


Love Game

by GlazedDounuts



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Anxiety Disorder, Bittersweet, Bromance, Clubbing, Drug Use, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Other, Self-Esteem Issues, Slice of Life, Strippers & Strip Clubs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 52,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23842561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlazedDounuts/pseuds/GlazedDounuts
Summary: Chanyeol's friends drag him to the strip club for his 24th birthday. His best friend booked him a private room with one of the most sensational strippers called Kai. However, it doesn't go down the way it is supposed to, and an unexpected friendship blooms between the office-worker and the stripper.Chanyeol was bewitched by Kai's eccentric behavior and appearance, wanting to know more about the exotic worker. What he doesn't realize is that being close to somebody like Kai came with heartbreaking repercussions.Kai calls himself a 'hot mess' like it's a badge of honor. But deep down, he's worried he's unlovable.Chanyeol always has hope. Even in the worst of situations when he gets hurt, ridiculed, and underestimated.Will they be the exception to the rule of love?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun, Kim Jongin | Kai/Park Chanyeol, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 132
Kudos: 140





	1. Red

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by Lady Gaga's song, Love Game. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this shit-show, and this is me trying to get back into my mojo of writing. 
> 
> Please comment! Tell me what you liked, hated, wished was different, your fav character. I'd love to get your FEEDBACK/OPINION on the chapter. ♡
> 
> If you ever wanna chat, my twitter is:@GlazedDounut72
> 
> 𝕀'𝕞 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕒𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤, 𝕠𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕕𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜.  
> 𝘐'𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝙸'𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜, 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔.

“I don’t get why I can’t invite Junmyeon with us? It is my birthday.” Chanyeol murmurs giving Baekhyun and Kyungsoo a side-glare. 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “I don’t want your boyfriend to ruin my mood tonight!” 

“You don’t even want to get to know him!” Chanyeol retorts. 

“We don’t want to know him! He’s a dickhead and you deserve better.” Kyungsoo says in a matter-of-fact tone. 

Jongdae jumps in between the pair, wrapping his arm around Chanyeol’s shoulder as the four best friends cross the road. “We wanted a friend's night, no boyfriends, no attachments. Just us, like old times.” 

Chanyeol eyes Baekhyun in disdain but nods in agreement. “Fine. You could have said that from the start.” 

“When? You couldn’t stop talking about Junmyeon from the moment we picked you up.” Kyungsoo grumbles to Baekhyun who nods in agreement. 

His friends weren’t exactly supportive of Chanyeol’s 4-month old relationship. They didn’t like Junmyeon’s behavior or how he acted like he was better than everyone. Always trying to find flaws in others to better himself. On the first encounter Chanyeol introduced his best friends to his boyfriend, Junmyeon proceeded to shit on Baekhyun’s job saying how it was useless and won’t make any money. 

“This is the club, Exodus!” Jongdae announces excitedly walking up to the bouncer with his ID in his hand. “We’re on tonight’s list. Kim Jongdae, Park Chanyeol, Byun Baekhyun, and Do Kyungsoo.” 

Everyone shows him their ID and they were checked in. At last, let the games begin. 

Inside the strip club was like dancing on the Northern Lights, high off your face. Dry-ice smoke beneath them swirled an array of blues, acid greens, hot pinks, and gold. The music played over the stages scattered across the club, filled with fluid bodies. 

“This is insane.” Baekhyun gaped walking further into the club with everybody following behind him, too enchanted by the scene. 

Chanyeol has never set a foot inside of a strip club, it wasn’t his scene and he wasn’t generally a fan of them. But this place was on a whole different level, straight out of a fantasy. His friends didn’t tell him what they planned for his 24th birthday, for the surprise element but Chanyeol assumed they would have a nice dinner, not this. 

“Jongdae you really pulled this off.” Kyungsoo approved, sitting himself down next to Baekhyun on the semi-circle couches that are located right by the main stage.

“I know.” Jongdae grinned readjusting his shirt, before flagging down one of the hostesses.“Hello sweetheart, can we get 4 shots of vodka, one old fashioned, and what do you guys want?” 

Kyungsoo nods at the hostess. “I’ll have an old fashioned as well,” 

“I want a margarita,” Baekhyun adds, all smiles. 

All eyes turned to Chanyeol who isn’t much of a drinker because he’s such light-weight. But since it’s his birthday tonight, he might as well splurge. “Can I have a Pina colada? With extra cherries?”

The hostess couldn’t help but smile at him before leaving to fetch their drinks, and Chanyeol wasn’t sure if she found his drink choice amusing or himself. 

“Are you serious? You’re ordering a Pina colada in a strip club with extra fucking cherries?” Baekhyun asks too dumbfound trying to comprehend what possibility is going through Chanyeol’s mind to make him order. 

“Can you not bully me on my birthday? Jongdae tell him he can’t be a dick to me on my birthday!” Chanyeol complains nudging Jongdae with an evident pout. 

“Don’t be a dick, Baek,” Jongdae utters absent-mindedly, scanning the crowded strip-club in search of something. 

“What are you looking at?” Kyungsoo asks his eyes following Jongdae’s gaze. 

Jongdae glances at Kyungsoo a sinister smirk spreading across his lips. “I booked Chanyeol a private room with this stunning stripper, like the body on the guy is insane.” 

“What? I don’t want a private room.” Chanyeol blurs out, feeling his anxiety slowly awaken inside of him. He should have known the night was only beginning. 

“Yeah you do, don’t lie.” Baekhyun teases from across the table. 

“So you’re looking for the stripper?” Kyungsoo inquired, his brows knitted together. “Let Chanyeol have a few drinks in him before, you know how much of a nervous wreck he can get..” 

“Baekhyun you can take the private room, pretend that you’re me. The stripper won’t know the difference.” Chanyeol insists, watching their hostess arrive with a tray full of their alcoholic beverages. 

“No!” Jongdae argues, smacking Chanyeol’s shoulder. “I don’t even pay for myself a private room, this is your birthday present. You can’t exchange or return.” 

“One Pina colada with extra cherries.” The hostess declares smiling at Chanyeol, sliding the small plate of cherries beside his drink. “Anything else gents?” 

“Yeah, I booked a private room with Kai? How does that work?” Jongdae asks, taking out a few dollars to tip her. 

“I’ll tell management that you arrived, tonight’s show is about to start so the private rooms will be available afterward.” The hostess explains tucking in her tips into her bra before leaving. “Enjoy your time at Exodus.” 

And right on cue, the lights drop to the main stage, and the music changes. More smooth, more sultry. 

“Let’s do our shots.” Kyungsoo shout-whispers, handing everybody their shot-cups as they clink together and down the burning alcohol in one quick motion. 

Chanyeol was nervous, he didn’t know what was happening. He glances at his friends who are all focused on the main stage as two females and one male in the center enter with their bodies hidden in the shadows, teasing the audience. 

“Welcome to the stage Kai, Irene, and Joy!” The over-head speaker announced but everyone was too enchanted by the trio’s presence to notice. 

The performers moved slowly through the dry-ice smoke like impossible silhouettes, tumbling more like fall leaves than human forms. Each body was clad in tight clothing, that barely covered their toned bodies. 

This is when Chanyeol realizes the man, Kai, is simply wearing an all-red ensemble that consisted of; thigh-high stockings with suspenders, tight boxers, and a loose cropped top that concealed nothing. His hair under the spotlight gleams in a shade of royal blue. Chanyeol doesn’t realize that he is holding his breath until the dancer smirks teasingly before starting the dance routine. 

Chanyeol’s eyes are glued to the male, only. Too enchanted and breathless to focus on anywhere else. Kai moves like a ribbon in the wind, it was effortless. With each swaying movement of his hips, with each alluring twist on his body, he told a story but nobody was listening. No one knew of the hardships and horrors they endured, no one knew this was not their desired path in life. All the crowd saw was their beauty as they twirled around each other, seductively moving their torsos. 

“Your welcome.” Jongdae whispers in Chanyeol’s ear. 

The dancing trio walked around the edges of the stage before each occupying a pole, and Kai seemed to be the main attraction by the female’s minimal movements. Kai wraps his fingers around the cold metal pole, pressing is bare body against it, tilting his head back with parted cherry stained lips, his eyes rolled back in fake climax. 

As the song comes to its peak, Kai is now on the floor on his hands and knees and the crowd goes wild. People are throwing their cash at him, and it looks like a scene from the movies with the money raining down on his body, praising him. He seems to be enjoying the money parade as he rolls around the stage curving his back in delight, throwing the money, leaning against the edge of the stage letting greedy men and women tuck cash into his boxers and stockings. 

“Is he looking at you? Oh shit.” Baekhyun gasps in excitement watching the blue-haired stripper walk towards their area, his eyes locked with Chanyeol. 

“He’s looking at me, fuck.” Chanyeol breathes out at the realization, feeling his cheeks heat at the intense eye-contact.

The corner of Kai’s lips curl upwards into a vindictive smirk, squatting down in front of them and Chanyeol realizes that Kai’s eyelids are painted with silver sparkles and noir kohl. Kai doesn’t say a single work, tugging his boxers in their direction with his eyes locked on Chanyeol’s. 

“Tip the man!” Baekhyun shrieks hitting Kyungsoo as he fumbles with his wallet. 

“I am!” Kyungsoo hisses hitting Baekhyun back, before placing his twenty dollars in Kai’s boxers. 

Kai winks at the pair and Baekhyun clutches onto Kyungsoo shaking him at the interaction, but Chanyeol is too taken back by Kai’s intimidating presence to say or do a single thing. The performer turns to the table beside them as they tip him before he stands up giving Chanyeol a full view of his bare ass, runs his hands up the back of his thighs, and slaps his ass cheeks in a teasing manner. 

The three performers moved like water transformed by music, flowing and bending in a seductive motion painting picture that sound alone could never achieve. As the song comes to an end, Kai and the trio start to disappear behind the violet velvet curtain one by one, but before Kai leaves he turns around with a cheeky smile directed at Chanyeol. 

“Shit,” Chanyeol whispers, sipping his Pina colada trying to cool the heat pooled in his stomach. 

“He was fucking everybody with his eyes, did you see him? Rolling in the money, laughing?” Baekhyun chats his eyes wide, gesturing to the stage as two employees dressed in black collect the cash skillfully in bags. 

“He kept looking at you, Yeol,” Kyungsoo notes, sipping his old-fashioned. 

“Jongdae I can’t,” Chanyeol confesses holding onto Jongdae’s sleeve but the latter brushes him off. “I literally will faint if I stay with him in a private room.” 

“Dude you will! I paid for the whole night. I told them that it’s your birthday, don’t you dare.” Jongdae threatens, raising his finger at Chanyeol who frowns. 

“I won’t know what to do!” Chanyeol shout-whispers, his cheeks reddened by the thought of being alone with the sensational Kai. He could barely breathe when he was 10-feet away from him. 

Before anybody can say another word, a knock on their table makes the four friends look up to the sound. 

“So, who’s the birthday boy?” 

And there stood dazzling in front of them was the captivating Kai, hooded eyes and soft smirks. 

All his friends expose Chanyeol pointing at him mutely startled by the stripper’s arrival. The dancer hums satisfied, lowering himself on Chanyeol’s lap, their faces inches away. 

“Does the birthday boy have a name?” Kai whispers his fingers brushing against the shirt Chanyeol is wearing. 

“C-Chanyeol.” 

“That’s such a nice name,” Kai purrs popping one of Chanyeol’s extra cherries into his mouth and then stands up, extending his hand out to the lanky male. “My name is Kai and I’m all yours.” 

“Y-Yes that is very nice, but, em, I don’t think, that, um,” Chanyeol stammers even more at how Kai is fluttering his curled lashes at him. “I can go—“

“Kai I think it would be a great idea for you to take Chanyeol to the private room we booked before he melts into a puddle?” Jongdae cuts him off immediately, pushing Chanyeol forcefully out of the booth. 

Kai laces his fingers into Chanyeol’s, pulling him along to the private rooms on the second floor. 

The private room is lit in a deep purple the light bouncing off in all the right angles of sultry. Kai guides Chanyeol down on the velvet couch, the club music booming as background noise. 

“Come on sit down,” Kai assures sitting on the glass table in front of Chanyeol, parting his knees open with his foot. “Relax birthday boy.” 

“No thanks, listen um—“ 

“We can’t do anything yet until the champagne comes,” Kai explains spreading his long legs but Chanyeol is looking at anything but Kai. “Don’t be shy, it’s okay sweetheart.” 

“I have a boyfriend, I can’t okay?” Chanyeol blurs out, raising his palms out in surrender. “I can’t do this.” 

Kai pouts leaning closer to Chanyeol, invading her personal space. “It’s your birthday, he won’t mind will he?” 

Without any warning, Kai sits on Chanyeol’s lap wrapping his legs around his waist. “We can be naughty tonight, you can bring him next ti—“ 

“No, no! Please get off me!” Chanyeol forcefully peels Kai off him placing him back on the glass table, watching the performer stare at him in bewilderment. “You are like truly talented with your dancing and a-a beauty, but I can’t do this.” 

Kai is taken back, he has never been rejected like this, it is usually him doing the rejecting it. He scans Chanyeol trying to understand the situation with his lips parted in astonishment. Before either of them can say anything a knock on the door breaks the tension. 

“Your champagne in here.” A female hostess enters with champagne and two glasses on the tray. She places down the sparkling drink carefully. 

“Are you going to tip Yeri?” Kai challenges eyeing Chanyeol who nods his head hurriedly, not wanting any upsets for tonight. 

Chanyeol pulls out a twenty handing it to the lady, with a nervous smile. “Yes, we can’t forget that.” 

“No, we can’t honey.” Yeri hums satisfied, leaving the pair alone. 

If Kai is upset he doesn’t show it. Chanyeol finds the latter gorgeous but he can’t have someone like Kai near him because to him that is cheating. And Chanyeol sees himself as a very loyal man for his beloved Junmyeon. He understands that this is a lap dance or whatever it could escalate to but Chanyeol cannot handle the sexual tension in the air, it makes him feel bad like he had been unfaithful to Junmyeon. 

Kai goes to the champagne opening the bottle. “You want some champagne, sugar?” 

“No, I’m a light-weight so I’ll pass thank you.” Chanyeol declines politely, watching Kai chug back straight from the bottle before wiping his lips with the back of his hand messing up his lipstick. 

Kai doesn’t like not being in control, and especially if he is going to be losing money. He always enjoys taking private rooms because it usually leads to him getting more money by doing some sexual favors but this customer seems to be up for it. And Kai has no idea why, because he is gorgeous and nobody ever says no to him. 

Kai gives Chanyeol a once over before walking over towards him. “I can suck you off for 50, but if you wanna have a quickie that’ll be a 100 and you have to wear a rubber.” 

Chanyeol’s eyes double in size, pressing himself further back against the wall trying to become one with the inanimate object. “I’m not here for the fun part. Please.” 

Kai whines running his hand through his royal blue curls messily, his pout evident. “I only get 60 from the 250 your friend paid for the private room” 

“I’m sorry?” 

“Come here, it’s okay.” Kai’s whispers velvety, spreading Chanyeol’s open again wit his hands lowering himself to sit on Chanyeol but the latter tugs him off immediately. 

“Sit still!” Chanyeol shuffles to the edge of the couch and he knows that if Jongdae saw him he might murder him. But Chanyeol will not be unfaithful to his boyfriend, no matter how gorgeous and delectable Kai looked. 

Kai huffs like a child, seating himself next to Chanyeol crossing his legs. “You aren’t going to tip me?” 

Chanyeol pulls out two twenty-dollar notes handing them to Kai who snatches it greedily, shoving it into is stockings. Kai runs his hand up and down Chanyeol’s thigh but the lanky male takes his hand off him. 

“You don’t wanna have any fun?” Kai utters at the unpredictable customer. This was a first. “With me?” 

“H-How about we just talk?” Chanyeol says nervously, watching Kai’s face brighten up. 

Kai moves across in front of Chanyeol, like a trained pup. “You want me to talk dirty so you can get yourself off?” 

Chanyeol shakes his head hurriedly, watching the smile on Kai’s face slip off. “No, no!” 

“Alright,” Kai accepts his shoulders sag, leaning back on his arms. “No need to get mad at me.” 

“I’m not mad at you,” Chanyeol clarifies, forming an ‘x’ with his fingers. “You’re just persistent that’s all.” 

Kai studies his chipped nail polish as if it’s some historical discovery. “Trying to keep the customer happy.” 

“I’m happy. Thank you very much.” 

They sit in silence for a beat or two but Chanyeol already feels bad even though he has done nothing wrong in particular. He rolls his shoulders back trying to ease the tension in his nape but it isn’t working. 

“So, um how old are you?” Chanyeol asks, trying to keep the vibe light. 

Kai looks up at him through his darkened eyes, and Chanyeol tries to not react. “How old do I look, bunny?” 

Chanyeol knew that strip clubs often hired underage kids and he knew that if Kai wiped away all of the excess makeup he’d have a youthful face. “17.” 

Kai sits up, showing mild interest in the conversation. “You can’t be 17 and work in a strip club. I’m 24, it says so on my ID.” 

“I can buy a driver's license that says I’m 50, but that doesn’t make me 50.” Chanyeol chuckles at the thought but Kai wasn’t laughing. 

“So, do you guys pick your own strip name? Or does the club decide?” 

Kai doesn't speak. He studies Chanyeol’s attire he seems normal enough in his black slacks and white shirt. His hair might be gelled back but apart from that, he looked decent. Then it clicked. 

“You’re a cop? Piece of shit!” Kai growls sitting up immediately, getting out of Chanyeol’s personal space. 

Startled Chanyeol denies the sudden allegations. He isn’t. He barely has the stamina to walk up the stairs to his apartment on the 5th floor. 

“Then show me your fucking cock! Prove you aren’t a cop!” Kai jumps on Chanyeol tugging his pants forcefully and Chanyeol pushes him off him. 

“Stop that!” Chanyeol shrieks but Kai can’t help but hit his chest before moving back in rage. 

“No wonder you’re gawking at me like a dumb dog! We didn’t do shit, so you can’t arrest me!” 

“I’m not a police officer!” Chanyeol shouts trying to get through to Kai but the stripper is already by the door, eyes narrowed dangerously like slits. 

“This is the closest you’re going to get to my fucking body, fuck-face!” Kai snarls, storming out of the room. 

Leave it to Chanyeol to make a stripper leave him in a private room because he didn’t want to engage in any sexual activities. He can’t tell the gang or they won’t let him live it down.


	2. Miso Soup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by Lady Gaga's song, Love Game.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this shit-show, and this is me trying to get back into my mojo of writing.
> 
> Please comment! Tell me what you liked, hated, wished was different, your fav character. I'd love to get your FEEDBACK/OPINION on the chapter. ♡ 3.1K ♡ 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy it.

“We aren’t even getting paid for this over-time,” Jongdae mutters, entering the elevator. 

Chanyeol nods in agreement. “Manager Choi has a power-complex.” 

“Yeah, no shit.” 

Chanyeol has been working at the advertising company alongside Jongdae for almost 3 years now, and he does love his work. However, at times like this, he hates it, where he is forced to work overtime with no compensation because his dickhead manager decided at the last second he didn’t like his and Jongdae’s draft that has been submitted two days ago and they have to redo the entire 10-page report all over again. 

“I need to have a drink,” Jongdae announces, throwing his head back in exhaustion. “I didn’t care for the promotion before, but Manger Choi keeps pulling this shit up and I’m about to turn a 360 degree to win it so I can piss on his coffee every morning.” 

“I don’t know whether I should be alarmed or not, with you wanting to metaphorically piss on his coffee or your motivation purposes grow from revenge?” Chanyeol questions stepping out of the elevator as he shows the security his ID badge wrapped around his neck still. 

“Just be happy that it isn’t directed at you.” Jongdae tuts, bumping shoulders with his best friend finally exiting the company letting the cold hair hit them quite harshly. “What time is?” 

Chanyeol zips up his coat almost immediately, not a fan of the winter weather. “It’s almost 9 pm.” 

“See this is why I wouldn’t mind pissing on his coffee every morning,” Jongdae grumbles as they walk down the night street. 

“You are disgusting.” Chanyeol begins but before he can say another word his phone rings, as he pulls out his device his boyfriend’s picture fills his screen. “One sec, Dae.” 

“Whatever go be sappy over there,” Jongdae pushes Chanyeol away as he sits down on the empty bus stop bench. “I’ll be here alone, wallowing in vengeance and loneliness.” 

Chanyeol can’t help but grin at his best friend’s antics, walking near the street lamp to lean against. 

“Hey, babe!” Chanyeol answers cheerfully, he’s always happy to hear his boyfriend’s voice. 

Junmyeon has truly been a light in Chanyeol’s life even though they’ve been dating for 4 months now. His friends detest him but Chanyeol is tired of trying to justify and explain every action of his boyfriend’s. 

“Hi Yeollie, I just wanted to call because you didn’t answer my text, probably working,” Junmyeon chuckles, and Chanyeol notices a lot of background noise. Is Junmyeon not home? “I wanted to tell you that one of my friends just came back from her vacation, and she’s staying at my place so I don’t think it would be appropriate for me and you to hang out tonight, y’know? With it being so late and me having a guest.” 

Chanyeol’s shoulders sag, he doesn’t want to be the demanding boyfriend but Junmyeon has been canceling their plans last minute for quite some time now. He isn’t particularly good or fond or confrontation. 

“Oh, do you think she’ll mind? It’s like just dinner and I can get to know her too and vise versa.” Chanyeol is running his fingers mindlessly around the graffiti on the lamp-post. He hasn’t seen Junmyeon all week, and he was excited to just chill with him. 

“It’s already late, might as well make it another time Yeol.” Junmyeon doesn’t sound so upset by the sudden change of plans if anything Chanyeol can hear him laugh at something his travel friend has said. “Listen don’t be upset, I’ll make it up to you okay?” 

“I’m not upset.” Chanyeol grunts obviously upset tracing the outline of the graffiti faster. 

Junmyeon laughs at Chanyeol’s tone. “Yeollie, I’ll make it up for you—yeah, yeah one second I’m almost done—I promise, okay?” 

Chanyeol wanted to chew him out, he feels stupid for getting worked up over this predicament but he can’t help it. “Yeah, it’s fine.” 

“Alright, love you!” And without waiting for Chanyeol to say anything back, the line goes dead. 

On impulse Chanyeol kicks the lamp out of rage, momentarily forgetting that it is metal and his foot is not. This results in him limping back to Jongdae who’s busy on his phone. 

“So how’s Jun?” Jongdae asks with an air of casualness and Chanyeol applauses him for his acting. He knows Jongdae isn’t fond of Junmyeon at all, and Jongdae told Chanyeol this after the couple’s second month of dating, but he also told Chanyeol he’s a grown man that can make his own decisions. 

“Grand.” Chanyeol lies smoothly, he’s been doing this often — covering for his boyfriend. 

“Must be exciting to go back to your boyfriend while I go back home to Kyungsoo,” Jongdae snorts at the thought of his roommate. “He’ll give me an earful I’m sure, about I forced him to leave good food out on the counter to get cold.” 

Chanyeol smiles, imagining the scenario. After all, Kyungsoo is a chef, he’d expect nothing less. 

“Good thing the bus is coming in a few minutes, I don’t think I can handle waiting much longer.” Jongdae sighs leaning back exhausted. 

Chanyeol hums in agreement as the pair sat in comfortable silence. He is deeply attached to Junmyeon, and even though he has more than his fair share of constant heart-break he’ll take Junmyeon’s word for it and regard this as a one-off, of the plenty of one-offs. 

He looks around at the street and a purple fuzzy Jacket attracts his attention, as the figure is standing with someone else near the shadows having a cigarette. Kind of a bold choice, Chanyeol thinks internally. The hidden figures across the street burst out laughing — obnoxious and loud. Then all of a sudden Purple Fuzzy Jacket is waving goodbye to their friend who bids his farewell it seems before turning the corner. Then in that split second where Purple Fuzzy Jacket moves under the lamp-light, Chanyeol realizes who is Purple Fuzzy Jacket. 

Without wasting a second Chanyeol is up on his feet, throwing his satchel strap over his head, he rushes to the other side of the street. 

“Chanyeol! Where the hell are you going?” Jongdae calls out, alarmed at his best friend’s sudden movement. 

“Give me a sec!” Chanyeol hollers back, finally standing across Purple Fuzzy Jacket, well, Kai. 

Kai doesn’t flinch away at the sudden company, he just takes in Chanyeol’s frame in mild curiosity before a light bulb goes off on his head registering who he is.

“Fake birthday boy cop.” Kai acknowledges, placing another cigarette between his lips. 

“Yes, about that, I wanted to tell you that I’m not a cop and it was my real birthday.” Chanyeol starts, pulling out his business card from his wallet and handing it to Kai who took it with caution, reading its content. “I’m a marketing office clerk, I just didn’t want you to think of me badly.” 

“Why?” Kai says in amusement, smoke escaping his lips. 

Chanyeol wasn’t sure why he ran across the street at the sight of the stripper or felt the need to justify his actions because he wasn’t in the wrong. That night Kai jumped to conclusions and gave Chanyeol no chance to explain himself or the misunderstanding. He just didn’t want to be accused of something that he didn’t do. 

“Chanyeol! The bus!” Jongdae yells from across the street as the bus pulls up to the bus station. 

“I’ll catch the next one! See you tomorrow!” Chanyeol informed waving at Jongdae gave him a perplexed look before entering the bus. 

Kai takes another puff of his cigarette watching Chanyeol wave to his friend as the bus leaves. He is an interesting character for sure. 

“You got anywhere to be?” Kai’s voice seems hoarse, and Chanyeol wonders if it’s from the cigarettes alone. 

“Not really, no,” Chanyeol says honestly, thinking back to Junmyeon and their now-canceled plans. 

Kai takes a step closer to Chanyeol testing his nerves, and Chanyeol freezes in place at the close approximation. The dancer blows the smoke in Chanyeol’s face, and whispers. “Well I do, so bye.”

With that simple farewell, Kai tossed his cigarette on the pavement and stomped on it with the tip of his leather boot before walking off. Chanyeol stood in his place with smoke swirls around him, flabbergasted at the attitude of the stripper. He didn’t know what came over him to introduce himself but he most certainly thought Kai would be more considerate. 

“Wait!” 

Chanyeol was startled by his sudden bravado, watches Kai stop and turn to him with raised brows waiting expectantly. 

However, Chanyeol feels idiotic for even bothering to entertain and try to better his image to some strange he only saw and talked within a total of 10 minutes. The next bus is going to take at the very least half an hour and Chanyeol just wanted to tuck himself under his duvet and pretend today didn’t happen. 

“You got money?” Kai’s voice echos in the bare street, readjusting his backpack strap on his shoulder. 

Chanyeol nods his head, but then he was unsure if Kai can see him clearly so he moves forward towards the blue-headed male. “Yes?” 

“Good, you can buy me an apology dinner since you don’t have anywhere to be,” Kai pauses reading the business card once more. “Mr. Park Chanyeol.” 

Chanyeol didn’t know what made him walk along with the exotic performer, was it curiosity or boredom he isn’t sure. But it was much better than doing nothing. 

“So is your name really Kai?” The office worker chats as they walk side-by-side under the moonlight. 

Kai’s left side of his faint red lip tugged upwards creating a sinister smirk on his sculpted face. “Why? You said you aren’t a cop.” 

“I’m not!” Chanyeol says defensively, but Kai’s smirk widened and Chanyeol knew he was teasing. “I was trying to make small talk.” 

“And that’s your go-to question for small talk?” Kai tuts, inhaling the nicotine into his system. “I’ll give you one more chance. Go on.” 

Chanyeol always up for a challenge, pauses for a second before deciding. “The weather’s been pretty crazy, it’s freezing.” 

In his arrogant trump, Kai smirked. Just a small pouting of the lips; a narrowing of the eye and a tilting of the head. It looked innocent enough but Chanyeol has met his fair share of the pity gaze to identify it immediately. 

“I think the craziest thing about the weather is society’s desire to make objective truths like ‘it’s freezing’ or whatever, into lengthy conversations,” Kai states with an air of confidence. 

“You knew I was going to say something about the weather,” Chanyeol complained stiffly since they don’t know each other at all. “You already set me up to fail.” 

“You’re weird,” Kai utters tugging Chanyeol by his arm, into a smaller side street away from the main shops, cafes, and restaurants. “Over here.” 

Chanyeol is instantly offended. “How am I weird? You’re the one with fickle and from what I am noticing rather intense mood swings.” 

Kai doesn’t look angered or even bothered by the statement in the slightest. If anything he’s too focused on dragging Chanyeol again through the zig-zag alleyways, popping into a new dimly lit path with a few people walking and lit establishments.

“My intense mood swings are one of my more endearing qualities.” 

Chanyeol stares at Kai dumbfound at the bright smile the stripper is flashing him. Then without notice Kai enters one of the restaurants and Chanyeol hurries behind him spotting the blue-head already seating himself down by the wide window that shows the narrow street they were on a few seconds ago. 

“This isn’t very boyfriend of you,” Kai’s voice is dangerously smooth. “Quite the cliche for me though.” 

“What?” Chanyeol blurs out startled. Kai is such a bizarre person. 

The waiter comes over to the pair handing them their menus before leaving them to decide for a few minutes. 

You didn’t want a lap dance, or head, or anything from me actually,” Kai chats unbothered by the few stares he’s getting, his eyes focused on the menu. “Because you told me you have a boyfriend, but you’re willing to buy me dinner?” 

“This is an apology dinner like you said!” Chanyeol splutters, “I don’t like getting misjudged, which is why I am trying to make a right of a wrong.” 

Kai gestures for the waiter finally lowering his menu. “You don’t have a boyfriend then.” 

“I do too!” Chanyeol huffs like a child. “His name is Junmyeon!” 

Kai leans back on his chair and Chanyeol can see the traces of silver glitter around Jongin’s cheekbones and eyelids. “Then why are you spending your night with me, and not him? Revenge?” 

“Why is everyone obsessed with revenge today?” Chanyeol mutters under his breath staring at the ugly table-cloth for a moment. “Our plans were canceled if you have to know. Last minute.” 

The waiter arrives pulling out his notepad, and Chanyeol doesn’t get the chance to order because Kai orders for both of them. “Yeah, we’ll have 2 miso soups with udon noodles. Thanks.” 

Kai is definitely an enigma. He seemed to not care about outer appearance or first impressions, he does not filter his thoughts at all no matter how invasive they may be. Chanyeol is taken back by Kai’s eccentric behavior. He could pay at that moment and leave but Chanyeol doesn’t move, too entranced. 

“This is a fun social experiment for you, isn’t it? Hanging out with a stripper.” A slick smile spreads on Kai’s strawberry lips, dimpling his cheeks. He finds it amusing, and Chanyeol feels like a joke. 

“Why do you keep saying nonsense like that? No.” Chanyeol grunts, his bones beginning to ache due to fatigue and an empty stomach. 

Kai pouts with exaggeration and leans forward resting his chin on his palm. Chanyeol notices his chipped black nail polish, remembering their first encounter all over again. It’s like he is playing two different characters. Facades, Chanyeol corrects himself mentally. 

“It isn’t nonsense, it makes sense.” Kai corrects him with a matter-of-fact tone. “What other rational reason is there for you to buy me dinner because of what, calling you a cop? You’re the first person to do something like that.” 

“An apologetic dinner is my reason,” Chanyeol informs the blue-head for the nth time. But then he starts thinking because initially it was just the apologetic dinner but then he realized he also didn’t want to spend another lonely, empty night. He’d rather do something. 

“Well, truthfully speaking I don’t have anything to do this evening, and I am a little curious. But it isn’t like I am using you for entertainment or anything, I just wanted to clear the air and not make you think I’m a dickhead.” 

Kai nods his head in understanding, as he pours himself a cup of water from the complementary jug on their table.

“I am the definition of entertainment, I’m not offended,” Kai says easily as if what he is insinuating is a very casual and normal thing. “Along as you’re buying me food, then you aren’t a dick. And your apology will be accepted as soon as the miso soup arrives.” 

Chanyeol hums grateful that his apology. “I’m glad..” 

“So, I’m assuming that that night was your first time in a strip club?” Kai asks, his eyebrow raised. 

Chanyeol doesn’t like being in the hot seat, but then again he isn’t forced to be here. 

“I’m not a fan of them, it makes me feel awkward,” Chanyeol answers truthfully, shrugging his stiff shoulders. 

Kai barks out a laugh it was abrupt and genuine. “You didn’t seem awkward staring at my ass when I was dancing on stage.” 

Checkmate, Chanyeol says mentally. His cheeks redden at the statement not expecting it at all. 

“I’m only teasing!” Kai says cheekily, as the waiter arrives with their warm food setting it on the table before leaving. 

Kai doesn’t dig in immediately, instead he eyes Chanyeol intrigued by the man. “You’re cute.” 

“Thank you but I am taken,” Chanyeol explains loyally, splitting the wooden chopsticks. 

Chanyeol seems like a character Kai only sees on television or in comics, like the unintentionally funny but serious nerd. And Kai most definitely is having fun, his night was a little dry with him barely making any cash at the club since his boss kicked him out early since there are too many dancers tonight. But Chanyeol’s entirety made his night. It was fun. 

“Yeah, no need to tell me twice.” Kai sticks his tongue out at Chanyeol. “You’re like the first guy to ever reject me. Did you know that?” 

Chanyeol shakes his head mutely, watching Kai dig into his food. He takes the opportunity to study Kai’s features. He’s handsome, Chanyeol concludes. He wasn’t going to like but he is most certainly surprised that he’d been the only person to reject the alluring performer. He is usually against the wave on a lot of things, so no wonder his luck is bad for him. 

“20,” Kai confesses. “That’s how old I am.” 

He wasn’t wrong about the baby-face at the very least, Chanyeol contemplated. “I’m 24 years old.” 

Kai glances up at him with half a smile. “I know bunny, I tried to give you a lap dance on your birthday? Remember?” 

“I was just trying to be polite,” Chanyeol grumbled tasting the soup, it was a little salty but he was no cook. He’ll take what he can get. 

“You’re funny,” Kai concluded. 

“Are you laughing with me or at me?” Chanyeol complained he was used to being the butt end of jokes often. 

Kai flashes him a mischievous smile but says no more. They sit in silence for the remainder of the meal and Chanyeol doesn’t mind the quiet. The background white noises of life are enough. He likes how hidden the restaurant’s spot is but the concealed street outside is quite lively. 

Kai breaks the silence first, standing up from his seat, his backpack strap in one hand. “This was amusing. Thanks for the meal, honey.” 

“You’re leaving?” 

“We aren’t tied down to anything. I don’t know anything about you and vise versa. Practically strangers. You used me as a filler for you depressing night and I used you for free food. We’re even, don’t you think?” 

Chanyeol can only gape at him. He isn’t sure to be offended or hurt first. “Well, yes in some sense….” 

“Exactly.” Kai makes an exaggerated bow, glancing up at Chanyeol. “We aren’t even acquaintances, sweetheart. You think just because you got me food I owe you something?" 

"No. That wasn't my intention." 

"Good. Because like I said, we're even." Kai finalizes, throwing his backpack strap over his shoulder. "It was nice meeting you baby." 

With that, the chilly breeze carried away the enigma called Kai becoming one with the icy night.


	3. Coffee Truck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by Lady Gaga's song, Love Game.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this shit-show, and this is me trying to get back into my mojo of writing.
> 
> ♥6.7K♥ chapter. 
> 
> I want to thank every single person who has been so kind and generous in leaving their sweet, sweet comments and kudos! I literally take screenshots of them and re-read them for motivation and moral support. So thank you. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ♡
> 
> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~

Ever since a fortnight ago, when Chanyeol took Kai out for an apologetic dinner the dancer has been on his mind. Kai’s abruptness and rawness were refreshing to see, but Chanyeol shook his head knowing they’ll never meet again. 

“Hey,” Junmyeon kisses Chanyeol’s cheek before setting down their mugs of coffee. “What you thinking about?” 

Chanyeol is pulled back to reality. He stayed over at Junmyeon’s place, and he couldn’t be more grateful for their time to spend together since it’s been a while. Chanyeol looks at Junmyeon in adoration. “I just don’t wanna go.” 

“Hasn’t Baekhyun been annoying you for the past week to go out to lunch with him?” 

“Yeah at Kyungsoo’s restaurant, but I wanna spend more time with you,” Chanyeol said sweetly reaching his hand across the table to hold hands. “Last night was fun.” 

“I know, I was good wasn’t I?” Junmyeon grins cockily. “But you have to go. Because I need to meet some of my coworkers here, to double-check on the presentation on Thursday.” 

Chanyeol quirks his brows upwards. “You said you finished it, last Thursday.” 

“Me? No, you must have been mixed up with someone else.” Junmyeon assures, sipping his coffee. “Anyway, do you want me to drop you off?” 

Chanyeol shakes his head, watching Junmyeon pull his hand away before standing up. They woke a little late but it was barely afternoon and Junmyeon was up and ready, almost wanting to kick him out. 

“Why are you in such a hurry?”   
“I’m not. Why aren’t you? You have plans with your friend.” 

Chanyeol doesn’t say more, instead, he stands up leaving his coffee untouched. Then it clicked. Their 5th month anniversary is around the corner, which is why Junmyeon is being all secretive trying to plan something romantic. He’s sure of it. 

“Okay, I’m going!” Chanyeol raises his palms in an act of surrender. “Wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of your coworkers, now would we?” 

Junmyeon purses his lips at him unimpressed with Chanyeol’s teasing and instead wraps his arms around his tall boyfriend’s waist. “You know it isn’t like that.” 

Chanyeol laughs at how defensive Junmyeon became and presses his lips against his softly. “I know, I’m just kidding.” 

And Chanyeol was, but there was some truth to what he saying. He often felt inadequate when he is around Junmyeon or his friends to be more precise. They weren’t necessarily rude to him, but it was more of how they had this air of supremacy and it was condescending at the time, well, all the time. He talked to Junmyeon about it a few times but all his boyfriend had to say was that it was all for show and jokes, nothing to take personally. 

After a few kisses the couple share, Chanyeol changes his clothes into the ones Junmyeon has kept and leaves his boyfriend’s place. He is giddy because their 5th-month anniversary is around the corner and he can’t wait to find out what present he’ll be getting since Junmyeon is acting so well. 

“What took you so long!” Baekhyun shouts from his car when he spots Chanyeol’s arrival. “I could’ve literally walked over from how long you were taking.” 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes childishly at his best friend, riding in the passenger seat. “We get it, you got yourself a car! No need to rub it in our faces every time! Jongdae said if you mention your car in a patronizing way one more time, he’ll literally fight you.” 

Baekhyun presses on the accelerator, finally driving. He hits Chanyeol across his chest lamely in an act of defensive over the verbal attacks so early on the day. 

“Just because I am doing an amazing job with my career, doesn’t mean I need to stop showing off.” 

“It’s called being humble.” Chanyeol tuts, taking Baekhyun’s phone from the cupholder ready to be the designated DJ for the ride. 

“It’s called self-care,” Baekhyun corrects with unwavering confidence. “Anyway, I barely got Kyungsoo to agree to put a reserved table at his restaurant so we don’t wait.” 

Chanyeol snorts, knowing Baekhyun will do what he needs to do to get what he desires. ”I'm going to expose you to your fans one day.” 

“Why? They already know this.” Baekhyun laughs and Chanyeol can’t help but grin. 

Baekhyun never really had any ambitions to do anything, and it worried his parents greatly that he was going to not move up in the world and he didn’t want to disappoint them, so Baekhyun ended up in community college but he couldn’t even finish the first term before dropping out. He started working a few part-time jobs to leave his parents' house and he eventually did scrape up enough money after a year or so to buy a small one-bedroom apartment on the rough side of the city. That is when he began gaining interest in creating a YouTube channel, all it took was a camera and a laptop, and Baekhyun thankfully had both. He started to record his everyday life and with his bright personality, he gained subscribers in no time. 

Chanyeol was so proud of his best friend because he hasn’t seen Baekhyun look so happy and passionate about something until he began his channel. Fast forward to three years and 2.8 million subscribers later, Baekhyun owns a lush penthouse, his own fashion-line in the making, and a few other luxuries. 

“How’s your dumbass boyfriend?” 

Chanyeol pauses from scrolling through the music playlist to give Baekhyun a side-glare. “You don’t care to know.” 

“I know,” Baekhyun chats cheekily, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music. “Now that’s out of the way, can we talk about how you should dump him?” 

“How about you mind your business?”   
“Duly noted. I will remind you, however when everything turns to shit.”

Chanyeol smacks Baekhyun’s shoulder as the latter exaggeratedly starts to whine and complain about the pain. Chanyeol’s lips curl upwards at the silliness of his best friend, he missed him and their banter. 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Chanyeol exclaims affectionately, turning to face Baekhun fully. 

Baekhyun sticks out his tongue at him as he takes a left. “All week last week has been back-to-back meetings on like brand promotions and the fashion-line. If you see my place, it is literally a mess.” 

“I feel even though your shit is tiring sometimes, from a creative point of view with your content it pushes you to like strive for better material.” Chanyeol acknowledges because there is no man working harder than Baekhyun himself. 

“Exactly!” Baekhyun claps in delight at the revelation. “Which is why I’m thinking of like uploading 3 videos a week, instead of 5.” 

“Quality over quantity.” Chanyeol hums in agreement, changing the song to a more laid-back track. 

Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol in awe. “Dude. You are my literal soulmate.” 

Within seconds the pair are laughing so free and pure, so childish despite their adult years. Moments like this make Chanyeol realize how lucky he is to be surrounded by beautiful friends who have the best energy. 

The traffic light turns red, and as the car comes to a stop Chanyeol takes notice of the blue coffee truck parked on the side of the street. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea to become a food trucker? Is that a word? Whatever, I’d wanna sell doughnuts. Be my own boss.” 

Baekhyun’s follows Chanyeol’s gaze, joining in on the repartee. “You’re missing one important factor.”

“What?”   
“You can’t cook.”

Chanyeol’s mouth is open ready to shoot some witty remark, but he freezes the words choked up in his throat at the sight before him. There stood in an oversized pair of jeans that bunch up around his black converse, and a black cartoon sweater was Kai waiting in line by the coffee truck. 

“Byun! Park quickly!” Chanyeol yelps. 

“Why are you yelling our surnames?”   
“Baekhyun park the car over here, on the side!” Chanyeol pleads, watching the light turn green. 

“We’re already late, no. I’m not going to let Kyungsoo—Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screeches stopping the car immediately because Chanyeol opened the door in the moving traffic and jumped out. Baekhyun thanks the Gods that the road isn’t busy. “Where the fuck are you going, you lunatic!” 

“I’ll meet you at the restaurant!” Chanyeol calls out already halfway across the street. 

“What the fuck!” Baekhyun shouts, leaning out of his window. 

“I promise I’ll tell you everything, okay?” Chanyeol giving his best friend a double thumbs up. “I need to go!” 

Baekhyun's eyes Chanyeol trying to find out what the hell made him jump out of the car like that, but he isn’t a psychic however he is already running on a late schedule. “Fine,” 

“But, I’m not going to wait for you, I’m going to order my food.”   
“You’re the best!” 

With that Chanyeol successfully crossing over to the other side of the street, and Baekhyun would have tried to back up into some parking spot to investigate but there were a few cars beeping at him passive-aggressively. 

Baekhyun pokes his head out, glaring at the traffic jam he’s caused. “I’m fucking going!” 

Unable to spy, Baekhyun drives off. 

Chanyeol approaches the food truck, with his eyes trained on Kai’s back who is by the disposable counter that the truck provides on the side filled with sugar, powers, milk, and other drink-like products. 

“Hi, can I get an iced-americano?” Chanyeol orders hurriedly, glancing back at Kai to make sure he hasn’t lost sight of him. “Large. Please.” 

“Name?” The employee asks, the plastic cup and marker in his hands. 

“Uh, Baekhyun..” Chanyeol lies, handing over his credit card. He needs to be undercover, he couldn’t possibly expose himself so early on. 

He doesn’t know exactly what made him leap out of Baekhyun’s car the way he did, but what he does know is that it probably looked less impressive in real-life than what he imagined. He stands on the side waiting for his drink, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible as he peers at Kai who is grabbing a handful, literally a handful and Chanyeol’s eyes widen by the amount, of sugar packets. 

“Baekhyun! Iced-americano!” 

Chanyeol takes his coffee thanking the worker again and brings himself to walk up to Kai. He hasn’t just jumped out of a moving car for nothing, even though it was anti-climactic. Kai sparkled his curiosity and Chanyeol wanted to know more about him and his life. He knows that Baekhyun will literally be yelling at him the dated idiom ‘that curiosity killed the cat’, and Chanyeol retorts to Baekhyun’s voice in his head ‘that curiosity did kill the cat, but satisfaction brought it back’. 

“Hello,” Chanyeol greets casually, watching Kai turn around with alarmed eyes and two sugar packets in his mouth ready to be ripped open with his teeth. “Do you remember me?” 

Kai rips open the packets, spitting out the unneeded wrappers before dumping them into his drink. Chanyeol feels stupid because of course the stripper wouldn’t remember a stranger he met twice and he wants to walk away from this humiliation but Kai wraps his arms Chanyeol’s neck squeezing him. 

“Oh,” Chanyeol blurs out. “A hug.” 

“Hey!” Kai's eyes are smoked out with black makeup to look intimidating, but his eyes crescent in joy-giving him a more boyish charm. “I’m a touchy person. Chanyeol, right?” 

Chanyeol nods, realizing that he might be more awkward than he thought, so he tries to joke. “And you have zero knowledge on personal space.” 

Kai doesn’t reply, too focused on the task at hand as he opens 4 more sugar packets pouring them into his large coffee. Chanyeol’s face does nothing to hide his horror at the sugar dump happening because Kai takes notice and looks up him with a wide grin. “I like sweet stuff.” 

“Why don’t you order a sweet drink instead of drowning your black coffee in sugar?” Chanyeol asks genuinely concerned for the sickly-sweet concoction. 

Kai raises his brows in amusement. He didn’t expect to find the stranger again but he isn’t complaining. 

“These are sweeteners, not sugar. No calories, same flavor.” Kai explains simply, closing the lid and taking a sip letting the hot beverage warm up his bony body. “I ordered a latte, not black coffee. I’m not a fan of caffeine, but I need it to keep my eyes open.” 

Chanyeol nods his head again mutely, unsure of what to add. It has occurred to him that he hasn’t made any friends in such a long time because of his tight-knit friendship group since he was content. This clearly harmed his socialization skills dearly, because there he was following Kai towards an empty spot like the other coffee-truck customers chilling with their coffees in hand. 

Kai leans against the barbed wire fence, holding his large drink with both hands to warm himself up. 

“What brings a big, smart office guy like you around these parts?” 

Chanyeol blinked trying to remain calm, cool, and collected. He should have thought out a good backstory while waiting for his coffee, instead of gawking at Kai dumbly. Chanyeol looks around the district and realizes he has no clue where he is but he is certain that it is one of the rougher zones. 

“Uh, I follow this truck. On twitter.” Chanyeol starts off his deception stiffly, gesturing at the coffee-truck. “Which is how I happened to find this truck today.”

Chanyeol wasn’t going to admit that he ran out of his best friend’s car because he couldn’t believe that he spotted Kai again, it isn’t like he was going to go to the strip club and try to find him there, that would be crossing his moral boundary. This was coincidental, and very well in his moral compass.

Kai notices the name written on Chanyeol’s cup of coffee. “You lied about your name?” 

“It’s my coffee-name.” Chanyeol lies again, glancing around the people loitering by the truck. He wanted no association with this area or the people in it. “My friends and I do it often. It’s-It’s a habit.” 

Kai wasn’t in the best condition, his muscles trying to give in to gravity. He just wants to sleep but that was never an easy task. Insomnia has that effect on a person and Kai hated it. It most certainly doesn’t help when he’s been awake and working for the last fifteen hours because he skipped a few shifts and this was his boss’s way of punishing him. 

Kai’s eyes are glazed on the street watching the few cars and people pass-by, and Chanyeol takes note of the other’s appearance in curiosity. Although Kai seems to dress in casual wear, minus the heavy makeup, Chanyeol would most definitely not have assumed that he worked in the entertainment business, maybe still in college instead. 

Suddenly, Chanyeol gets handed the stripper’s drink in an abrupt manner. 

“Hold this.” Kai orders, tugging his baggy jeans over his slim waist and tightens the leather belt to the last puncture hole. It kept slipping and Kai didn’t want to throw out his favorite pair just because he lost a few pounds, they were already too big on him. “Thanks.” 

Chanyeol’s brows are raised at how erratic Kai seems to be, unbothered by how he must look to others by his actions, words, and appearance. Chanyeol wishes he had an ounce of the indifference the stripper possessed. 

“You changed your hair color.” Chanyeol comments, pointing at the newly dyed pink. 

Kai’s solemn face shifts. He stretched his chapped lips into a wide smile surrounded by stiff cheeks. 

“Yeah, I change it often depending on my mood.” Kai’s voice is toned with cheerfulness but Chanyeol's face told Kai that he detected his artificial pitch. Kai even mastered his fake smile, right down to the wrinkles around his eyes. No one ever questioned him. But Chanyeol seems observant enough to notice. Kai wonders if he’ll speak and ask him why is he pretending. 

Chanyeol doesn’t. Disappoint is a feeling Kai feels too often, so it wasn’t a new nor uncomfortable sensation clouding over him.

“So what brings you here?” Chanyeol asks instead not wanting to pry. 

“I follow this truck on twitter,” Kai answers sipping his drink, trying to not snort at Chanyeol’s dumbfound expression.

“Really?” Chanyeol chokes up, impressed with his own ad-libbing he couldn’t believe his ears. The truck had an actual twitter account, and Baekhyun would be most proud that Chanyeol hasn’t messed up this far. 

Kai shakes his head lightly, pushing himself off the barbed fence. “I have a shift at the club in half an hour, and this truck is the closest place with cheap and surprisingly good coffee.” 

“Yeah, well, that is a hard combo to find.” Chanyeol supports, slurping his iced americano in satisfaction. Kai wasn’t wrong, this is good coffee. 

“Exactly! That’s my argument!” Kai huffs, finally finding someone that agrees with his caffeine choice. 

Suddenly, Kai stands in front of Chanyeol, his face in deep concentration scanning Chanyeol’s. Naturally self-conscious, Chanyeol runs his hand through his hair in an attempt to smoothen down any strands out of place, after all, he couldn’t exactly change his facial features as easily as his hair. Chanyeol’s eyes are darting left and right, unable to hold more than a few seconds of eye contact with Kai’s intense gaze. 

“Are you going to walk me to the club?” Kai’s question is so brazen that Chanyeol spits the coffee in his mouth, thumping his chest to regulate his breathing. 

He may be sleep-deprived with achy muscles and drained, but Chanyeol so far has proven to be a fascinating human for Kai to play with. Giving Kai a small boost of energy. 

“Or is your boyfriend going to get upset?” Kai teases, unable to hold back a genuine smile because this is going to be fun.

“Why would he be upset by that?” 

“So, you’ll walk me?” Kai concludes already marching with Chanyeol rushing to be by his side. “Come on sweetheart.” 

Chanyeol frowns at the endearment. “I’d prefer to be called by my name.” 

“You don’t like it?” Kai looks up at him innocently, and Chanyeol knows he’s being mocked. 

“We don’t know each other like that—“ Chanyeol gets cut off immediately by Kai’s deep rumbling laughter. It was quickly brought under control, and internally Chanyeol wishes he’d hear more of it. 

“Are you sure? We don’t know each other like that? Let me refresh your memory to when I tried to give you—“

“Yes! I’m sure!” Chanyeol’s shrieks scandalously with reddened cheeks trying to burn the embarrassing memory from his brain. 

Mischief lurked on Kai’s lips and eyes. “You’re easy to wind up. It’s fun.” 

Chanyeol doesn’t reply, too busy having a sudden pre-midlife crisis because what was he doing here. It is as if he’d come to the realization of his strange actions. Why was he willingly walking with a stripper he’d met twice in his entire life, instead of having lunch with his childhood best friend. He can’t seem to pinpoint the exact reason but Kai’s aura was alluring, and dare Chanyeol to say, attracting wanting him to dive in more. Chanyeol blamed his spontaneousness on Kai. He was fascinating to be around with. Maybe because Kai was someone completely out of Chanyeol’s normal circles and they would have never crossed paths had it not been for Jongdae. There was a hypnotizing element that Chanyeol wants to find out. 

Kai nudges Chanyeol’s shoulder, snapping the lanky male from his internal monologue. “Are you listening to me, baby?” 

Chanyeol snaps into focus, turning to Kai with a sheepish smile. “No? I’m sorry, what did you say?” 

“I said, am I pretty?”   
“Huh? I’m taken.” 

Kai not satisfied with the answer tuts at Chanyeol, almost scolding the latter as if he’s a small child in the wrong. Chanyeol stares at him unsure if he should take offense or not by the patronizing behavior. 

“I have no interest in you romantically, stupid,” Kai complains quite childishly and Chanyeol can’t help but be at awe at how quick the dancer’s personality shifts. 

“Then why ask?” Chanyeol blinks trying to link the correlation, and Kai does nothing to aid instead he shrugs. 

“I’m not sure, I tried this navy-black look,” Kai stops walking, and Chanyeol pauses as well. However what Chanyeol doesn’t expect is for Kai to go on his tip-toes with only a few inches between their faces, fluttering his glittery eyelids causing the office-worker to freeze in his position at their close proximity. “I don’t have the energy to redo them. Sehun earlier said I look like a cheap prostitute, but I told him that’s the look I’m going for. So? Am I pretty?” 

Chanyeol gulps down his iced-americano quenching his thirst and to brain-storm some ridiculous excuse to maneuver the conversation. It seems that God has answered Chanyeol’s prayers because his phone rings and he clumsily pulls out his phone almost dropping it twice before answering hastily. 

“Hello? Yes?” Chanyeol answers a little too eager, taking a few steps away from Kai.

“Hurry up! I look like such a loner on my own, and Kyungsoo won’t come out of the kitchen to keep my company!” Baekhyun demands over the call. 

“Kyungsoo is working, of course, he won’t come out,” Chanyeol explains slowly, confused that Baekhun doesn’t know this. 

“I know! He should be more considerate of my sudden abandonment problem.”

“What abandonment problem?” Chanyeol asks dumbly, trying to rack up in his mind to what the issue could be.

“You! Just hurry up!” Baekhyun grunts in displeasure, hanging up. 

Kai leans towards Chanyeol, tilting his head to get a better view of Chanyeol’s confused expression staring at his phone, and Kai unable to hold back a cheeky smirk. Chanyeol is most definitely going to be the highlight of his week, this was entertaining. 

“Yes.” 

If Kai is surprised or confused he doesn’t show it, instead, he glances at Chanyeol with an air of indifference. 

“To what?” Kai asks as they continue on their walk. 

Chanyeol rubs the back of his nape bashfully, staring at his iced americano instead of Kai. “You’re pretty. You have a really pretty smile.” 

Kai’s eyes widen at the compliment, surprised that Chanyeol was being bold. “Well that’s nice of you to say—“

“But it’s a sad smile,” Chanyeol concludes thoughtfully nodding his head at his statement like an afterthought, not noticing Kai’s face drop at the comment. 

“You almost had me swooning for you.” Kai fake scoffs good-naturedly, knowing that Chanyeol was no threat to him. 

“I’m not flirting.” And Chanyeol wasn’t, he was being truthful. 

Kai rolls his eyes, “You could’ve fooled me.” 

The rest of the walk is completed in comfortable silence, and Chanyeol for once doesn’t have the itch to say something to break it. A few jeers and catcalls were all directed at Kai as they walked and the exotic dancer would blow a kiss or wink in their direction instead of ignoring the verbal abuse. Chanyeol isn’t surprised because Kai’s face is a cheat-sheet, he’s drop-dead gorgeous and all his limbs move with feline grace, that Chanyeol wishes he could possess instead of his two left feet. 

“So,” Chanyeol’s starts and Kai chugs the remainder of his latte. “Are your shifts long?” 

“Depends, if I get the night’s quota or not.” Kai flashes Chanyeol another dazzling smile as if it fixes everything and Chanyeol’s chest tightens by how fake it is. “Let me ask you something.” 

“Yes, shoot away.” Chanyeol nods eagerly, as Kai wraps his arm around Chanyeol’s pressing against him. Chanyeol’s eyes double at the contact, tensing up.

“Does it excite you? Being with a sex-worker?” 

Chanyeol unhooks his arm with Kai, a frown plastered on his face. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to touch me when I told you I have a boyfriend.” 

“This does excite you,” Kai stares in interest, his eyes full of mischief. “Why would you walk me to work then? If you have a boyfriend.” 

Kai’s all over Chanyeol pressing his body against the latter, his hands traveling around Chanyeol’s chest feeling him up. Kai tilts his head up, his lips ghosting over Chanyeol’s jaw. “You don’t have to act so innocent around me, he doesn’t have to know.” 

Chanyeol pushes Kai off him in panic. “I walked you to work because you asked! And because I am a good person!” 

Kai is having too much fun teasing Chanyeol, how easy it seems to fill the lanky male with alarm. Kai reaches over, grabbing Chanyeol’s shirt tugging him down to his heigh, making his voice honey-like. 

“Don’t lie to me doll, you want me. It’s okay.” 

Chanyeol yanks himself free from Kai’s hold yet again, wrapping his arms around his body in a defensive stance with bewildered eyes at what was happening.

“Why are you being weird! I wanted to be friends with you! Not everyone wants to fuck you!” 

“Everyone wants to fuck me! That’s all that everybody wants.” Kai says in a matter-of-fact tone, a little offended and puzzled that Chanyeol has zero desire in him sexually. He found it a little bizarre because nobody bothered to be friends with him, without wanting something out of him. He remembers the apologetic dinner they shared and how he has pondered over the question then too, confused by Chanyeol’s loyalty. 

Chanyeol’s entire face feeling like it’s on fire, and he is sure it looked it too. His skin was turning a scarlet-red traveling from his neck and spreading out onto his face, even his ears were roaring. 

“I can’t believe you’re turning me down. Me!” Kai a little taken back by Chanyeol’s flustering mess before him, his smile haltering slightly.

“I can understand why you’d be shocked,” Chanyeol splutters out taking a step back out of caution. “But keep your hands to yourself! I am a taken man!” 

Kai laughs baffled by the outcome because Chanyeol seems sincere enough. Friends? As if that could happen between them, they were too clashing and incompatible to match. 

“Cute.” Kai murmurs, eyeing up Chanyeol’s endearing mannerisms before speaking clearly. 

“Fine! I’ll try to keep my hands to myself, but no promises.” Kai pouts holding out his palm to seal the deal. Chanyeol narrows his eyes at Kai with suspicion before shaking his hand. 

“Does this mean we’re friends?” Chanyeol expresses a little embarrassed by his reaction earlier, sipping his iced americano. 

“Who knows?” Kai declares with a cheeky smile that never seems to slip off his face. 

As they take a turn, the strip-club comes into view and Chanyeol has to say that it looks a little cheap and tacky in the daylight. Kai stops and turns to face Chanyeol and in a split second Chanyeol can see the crack in Kai’s smile, how stiff it was. He wonders how much Jongin has to smile to please people, to make them assume he’s overly-happy. Because Jongin hasn’t stopped smiling and grinning the moment Chanyeol started talking to him, it seemed almost as if he was self-assuring himself, instead of being unbent. 

“Well, thanks for walking me to work.” 

Chanyeol nods his head shyly, giving Kai a thumbs up and immediately regretting his action. “Not a problem, I’m glad I could help.” 

Kai stares at Chanyeol with a tilted head, much like a confused kitten. Chanyeol is interesting and harmless, he concluded. To Kai, Chanyeol seems like a fairly easy man to manipulate, and he’d be doing Chanyeol a mighty big favor by fucking him and making him realize that monogamy isn’t real and all relationships are failed ones, with set dates since Chanyeol's so outspoken about his celibacy to his boyfriend. 

“It was nice to meet you, again.” Kai beamed, and it was. “Hope it doesn’t happen again.” 

But Kai argues against his scheme in an instant, it would be too bothersome and long to try and tamper with Chanyeol and ruin him. He was a funny-looking man with a few endearing qualities from the short time Kai spent with him. There was no distinct reason for Kai to interfere in Chanyeol’s life and play with his emotions other than the fact that he’d prove to Chanyeol that romance is overrated and it’s all a facade and everyone has a role in the bleak play until somebody’s heart is shattered. 

Chanyeol blinks dumbfound by the contrast in Kai’s happy face and sharp words. “What?” 

“It was a nice 10-minute walk, but we can’t be friends. It’s too bothersome.” Kai chats as if he’s talking about the weather and not Chanyeol. 

“Too bothersome?”   
“Yes, too bothersome.” 

“There is no benefit for me to be friends with you, you aren’t fucking me, giving me money or buying me shit.” Kai shrugs, grabbing the half-drunken ice americano from Chanyeol. “You seem sweet, wouldn’t want to ruin you. If we were friends it’d be one-sided with you getting all excited that my world is oh so dangerous and exotic, essentially a fantasy.” 

Kai turns around to walk away before looking back with a slick smirk. “Actually, maybe you’d even develop a savior-complex.” 

“You are so annoying!” Chanyeol blurs out outraged, poking Kai’s chest startling both himself and the dancer at his initiated contact. 

Kai glances down at the where Chanyeol touched him, then up. Interesting, he didn’t expect to get such a strong reaction from Chanyeol. 

“You are so big on assumptions! You don’t even know me and you’ve put me in this stupid box already and quite frankly I am offended.” Chanyeol tuts crossing his arms in a childish manner, hearing Kai laugh at the sight.

“You’re offended?” Kai repeats in disbelief. 

“Yes! You don’t even know me, and you already think you have me all figured out. I found you cool and I thought we could be friends, but you’re already acting like some pessimistic asshole who thinks he knows something that nobody else knows.” 

“Is that a challenge?” Kai whispered under his breath with eyes glinting in curiosity, he loved playing games. 

It doesn’t take much for Kai to be tipped over the edge, to react without much thought. But this was exhilarating better than any high he’d experienced, he loved to play with people. It was his domain. 

“I’m sorry for wasting your precious time,” Chanyeol scoffs disappointed by Kai’s reaction. He couldn’t fathom that Kai could only think in such a narrow-minded way. “I’ll be on my way then.” 

Chanyeol barely takes to steps before Kai calls out his name. 

“Game on!” Kai salutes Chanyeol with a dangerous grin spread across his face. “We’ll be friends. Since you asked for it.” 

“What?” Chanyeol’s face washed blank with confusion like his brain cogs couldn’t turn fast enough to take in the information from his wide eyes. “Are you serious? Why did you change your mind?” 

“You seem genuine,” Kai’s voice was like vanilla pudding, sweet in their ordinary sort of way, it was the richness of his tones that made all the difference in the sly intention laced in his words. “Is that a good enough reason?” 

Chanyeol stares at him in shock a smile gradually appearing on his lips. “I-I didn’t expect you to—“ 

“I have work, so see you soon friend.” Kai waves at Chanyeol with enthusiasm. He turns on the back of his heel in a smooth motion and starts to march towards the strip-club. 

“Wait! I don’t have your number,” Chanyeol calls out but Kai doesn’t turn around. “Or anything really…A-And I’m not going back into the strip-club.” 

“I’ll find you, sweetheart!” Kai hollers as the security opens the door for the employee. 

Kai glances back at Chanyeol his smirk widening. He found his reason for ruining Chanyeol, he’s going to have a blast. He loved games. 

(—————)

Kai walks straight past the main-area with only a few people scattered across the couches and chairs, it was slow. After all, they barely get anybody until the clock strikes 5 P.M. that’s when the crowds show up. He’d taken his break earlier because he would have barely made a dent an hour ago, without him doing a few tricks like giving somebody a hand-job. 

Kai walks through the dim-light corridor that is designed for the staff only, and he pushes open the second door to the left. Revealing the strippers' dressing room. It was bare, and Kai wished he wasn’t here as well. He knows better than to skip 3 days in a row, and he’s grateful that his boss hasn’t fired him yet and Kai knows it’s because he’s one of the popular ones with his pretty face. 

“What took you so long?” 

Kai turns to Sehun, his fellow co-worker and the closest one he would regard as a friend if he must, sitting beside a dancer Kai hasn’t seen before. Kai hands Sehun Chanyeol’s half-drunken ice-americano. “I was getting coffee.” 

“You drank half of it,” Sehun complained, eyeing the plastic cup. 

Kai shrugs. “It was a hot day.” 

And without another word, Kai sheds his outer clothes ignoring Sehun and the other dancer he seems to be talking to. It doesn’t take long for Kai to transform, rubbing body glitter all over his skin, and tugging on his skimpy silk white boxers that leave little to the imagination. 

Kai takes his seat by the dressers next to his stuff, he’d never leave them unattended if Sehun wasn’t present, and starts to put on the white fishnets slowly. Sehun can see how exhausted Kai is, the bags he concealed heavily, and the way his body moved with evident fatigue. Their boss didn’t care about how physically demanding their job seemed let alone all of the other emotional and mental strain. Their boss only cared about their daily quotas and how much they can bring in a day. 

“I can take your place for a few hours if you want,” Sehun suggests, watching Kai shake his head mutely. Kai didn’t like doing favors for anyone, especially with his co-workers because he’d rather not end up owing people, especially Sehun. He rather not ruin their link.

“You know I wouldn’t steal your money, don’t be stupid.” Sehun tried again jokingly, trying to lighten up the mood but Kai’s face was stoic and it usually whenever Sehun saw him. Sehun has gotten good at reading Kai but sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what is going on with him. 

“I got you coffee, can you leave me alone?” Kai grumbled, fixing the fishnets on his legs with a roll of eyes. 

“Anyway, listen, me and Ravi were just talking about how nerve-racking first nights can be.” Sehun pulls his legs up to his chest and sticks his tongue out at Kai. ”Since it’s Ravi’s first night.” 

Kai doesn’t like to be friendly with the other dancers, he’d rather not talk to anyone if he could. Sehun is the exception to the rule because the latter wouldn’t stop following him like a pup. Kai isn’t here to make friends, he’s here for the money. 

“As long as you don’t come on my stage during my set, then we won’t have problems,” Kai warned the new-comer eyeing Ravi up and down unimpressed. 

“Kai!” Sehun kicked the chair Kai is sitting on lightly, scoffing at his friend’s aloof behavior before turning back to Ravi. “Ignore him, please.” 

“Or my customers. I’m not here to share my regulars like some of the other dancers, so if I catch you with one of them I will have no issue in ruining you.” Kai continued monotonously, leaning over and taking Sehun’s makeup bag. 

It was known in the club that Kai didn’t like to share, and some previous dancers had taken lightly to his threats and rumors about Kai. But Kai got them all to leave the club after he found out they had messed with his money. Some say it was through blackmail, others say it was fighting but what is for sure is that Kai had done something so menacing to the dancers that forced them to leave the club immediately. 

“I-I won’t.” Ravi stammered out watching Kai re-touch on his makeup. 

Sehun takes a sip of his coffee and shakes his head in disbelief. “Don’t be such a major asshole.” 

“Fine,” Kai snapped shoving the makeup brush in the pouch and turned to Ravi locking eyes with the latter’s shaky pupils. “Is that what you’re going to wear?” 

Ravi glances down at his simple lacy red body-suit, then back at Kai. “Huh? Yeah. Is something wrong with it?” 

“No, nothing is wrong with it.” Sehun encourages narrowing his eyes at Kai but the other took no notice of it. “Right, Kai?”

“Sure, nothing is wrong with it if your whole thing is a crusty old little side-piece.” Kai begins maliciously unbothered by how pale Ravi’s complexion has become. “The customers come here for a fantasy, not to see what they have back at home. Doesn’t help that red isn’t really your color, or that you can’t blend your face for shit.” 

“I can’t believe you said that!” Sehun gapes turning to Ravi patting his arm in an act of comfort. “Ravi ignore him, we all do.” 

“Why sugar-coat?” Kai tuts, turning back to the mirror to check-over his hair. “It’s better to know the truth.” 

“Stop being jealous, Kai.” A fourth voice joins in, causing the trio to turn around to identify. 

“Lay! My favorite person.” Kai cheered immediately at the sight of the elder, bouncing up from his seat and rushed to the veteran stripper wrapping his arms around him. 

“Liar.” Lay scoffs in a joking manner, putting his stuff down on the counter across from the others. “What do you want?” 

Kai leans against the wall his smile wide and fake, and everyone in the dressing room knew it but Kai didn’t care. He needed what Lay had. “I’ve been on shift for the last 15 hours and took a break for an hour.” 

“And?” Lay raises his brows unimpressed, unpacking his shoes and clothes from his bag, placing it on the counter. “That’s your fault for skipping. I don’t know why boss keeps you around.” 

Kai sticks his hips out, with his hands firmly placed on either side of him. “Because I’m his favorite. That’s why.” 

“Not for long if Ravi decides to stay.” Sehun teased, bumping his shoulder with Ravi who smiles nervously. 

Kai rolls his eyes at the comment, he’ll do anything to stay the favorite. He sticks his hand out towards Lay expectantly with wide eyes ready. 

“Can I have some snow?” 

Sehun’s eyes narrow in alarm at the request, he doesn’t like how Kai is becoming more dependent on drugs than before. Maybe it was because he’s been on a long shift and this is a one-off, Sehun reasoned. 

“Fuck no, you can’t have any.” 

Kai stamps his feet like a little child, grabbing Lay’s sleeve. “Please! I blew all of my stash a few days back and I just need something to keep me awake until I finish tonight.” 

Lay purses his lips but he does comply, pulling out his infamous small blue jar, tapping out carefully the cocaine he has. “One line. That is it.” 

“That’s all I need.” Kai grinned, watching Lay line up the powder.

He doesn’t waste a second as he sniffs the coke, taking a step back unbalanced by the strong blow, gasping in delight at the immediate sensation hitting him. Kai grabs Lay’s face with both his hands, kissing the latter on the lips. 

“Thank you, babe!” 

Lay holds him still, dusting off the white powder sprinkled underneath his nose before letting Kai go. 

“You’ve been taking snow a lot more lately,” Sehun comments with a concerned expression. 

“Mind your business.” Kai hisses, walking over to his station to pull out a gloss before blowing the trio in the room a flying kiss. “See you out on the floor sluts!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you ever wanna chat, my twitter is:@GlazedDounut72
> 
> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~
> 
> I'm not asking for a full book report (although that would be MARVELOUS) I'm just asking to be paid with your thoughts, opinions, and feedback.
> 
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.


	4. Late Night Texting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter focuses more on Kai.
> 
> ♥3K♥ chapter.
> 
> I want to thank every single person who has been so kind and generous in leaving their sweet, sweet comments and kudos! I literally take screenshots of them and re-read them for motivation and moral support. So thank you. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ♡
> 
> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~

Kai dumps his bag on the ground as soon as he enters his small studio apartment, closing the door with his foot. He doesn’t waste any time kicking off his scruffy sneakers and unzipping his hoodie.

His studio apartment really shouldn’t be considered an apartment but more of a room at how square and compact it was. Kai didn’t really care for decorations nor did he have a lot of items, therefore his small home lacked color and furniture, he only had what he needed, resulting in the place looking bleak. 

If he stood by the front door, to his right would be his makeshift bedroom area, with a mattress on the corner topped with a crumpled duvet and pillows. To his left was a built-in closet that he could barely fit anything in. If Kai took a few steps forward, he’d have his bathroom door to his left, with the empty space of a living room across that consists of a chewed out green-couch he found on the street of his move-in day and his only companion-plant, Leaf. Next to the bathroom and open to the living room was his tiny kitchen that came with a two-seat dining table placed between the narrow-windows that look out into the street. 

Kai knew he could upsize into a better home, in a better location and facilities if he saved his money like Sehun who’s getting a new place as soon as his lease is over, but Kai spends any spare money on costly things like Oxycodone, a common painkiller, to ease his back-pain and keep him sane. 

He walked straight to the kitchen, pulling out a plastic cup and filling it with tap water before downing it in one go. He’d just finished work and couldn’t wait to scrub himself clean from all of the disgusting fingerprints of the handsy customers and body glitter. As he passes by his baby-blue chipped dining table that has seen better days he pauses in his step. 

“What do we have here?” Kai muttered, his eyes glimmer in curiosity, pulling out among the small clutter that item that caught his eye. Chanyeol’s business card. “I knew I didn’t lose you.” 

It’s been 2 days exactly since the coffee truck incident, and Kai thought he had lost Chanyeol’s card somewhere, and now he found it. He flips the business card back and forth with his thumb and index fingers, re-reading the information a few times. 

“Should I call or text?” Kai grinned, pulling out his phone, his earlier exhaustion momentarily forgotten about. “I might get him too excited if I call immediately. No need to rush the plan.” 

Kai dials the number and texts Chanyeol. 

Unknown: _Have you missed me, sugar?_

Not even a full minute has passed before Kai grows impatient at the lack of response, tossing his phone on the table carelessly. “Ugh. He should be running to me, like every other guy.” 

Without glancing at his phone screen, Kai undresses kicking his clothes away to the growing mountain of clothes he needs to laundry. Not wanting to waste another minute, he enters his bathroom for a much-deserved shower. 

(—————)

Chanyeol was currently trying out Kyungsoo’s recipe, Kimchi Tomato Pasta. It sounded easy enough, because how wrong could you go with a few ingredients. And he discovered it was a lot. He wanted to sharpen his skills of being a good cook, widening his horizon on more dishes. It would open up the door for more romantic dinner between him and Junmyeon, he can’t let Junmyeon keep cooking dinner every time they’re together, he wanted to treat his boyfriend. 

He hears his phone chime, and Chanyeol grins wondering if it’s his boyfriend. He came back from Junmyeon’s place earlier, and even though they had eaten take-out it was Junmyeon’s preference of vegan food and Chanyeol could barely stomach two bites before lying that he had eaten with Jongdae after finishing work. 

After lowering the heat on the pasta, Chanyeol washes his hands hurriedly by the sink and rushes to the counter to open up his device. However, instead of Junmyeon’s familiar ID filled with heart emoticons, it was an Unknown. 

“Have you missed me, sugar?” Chanyeol reads out loud, furrowing his brows at the anonymous message. “What the hell?” 

Chanyeol wondered who it could be from, trying to decipher the message but there wasn’t much for him to decode. Which made him go to plan B, and that consisted of calling the only person who’d bother to do such a lame prank this late. 

It doesn’t take long for his best friend to answer his call, knowing the latter is probably gaming. 

“What’s up?” Baekhyun’s voice is echo-y and Chanyeol assumes it is on speaker which adds more theory to the conspiracy. 

“If this is a prank for one of your videos, I will expose your secrets to your fans.” 

“Prank? You think I’m still doing amateur level humor?” Baekhyun scoffs offended, “Plus, what secret would you want to—fuck! Die bitch!— expose?” 

Chanyeol purses his lips still unconvinced. “I’ll expose that you still eat Lunchables, you had them for dinner last night, you man-child.” 

“Let's not say things we can’t take back, okay?” Baekhyun threatens, and Chanyeol doesn’t hear the noisy background of Baekhyun’s anymore, probably pausing his game. “Listen, Yeollie I haven’t done some stupid prank, I swear! So, what was the prank you thought it was me? I wanna know if I should be honored or disappointed.” 

Chanyeol’s brows knit together once more. If it isn’t Baekhyun then who is it, nobody else in his friendship group would be that childish to text him from an unknown number this late. 

“I believe you, bye.” Without waiting for an answer, Chanyeol hangs up. 

Chanyeol stares at his phone screen wondering who it could be. But then another message pops up and Chanyeol fumbles with his phone at the surprise. 

“Have you not figured out who I am yet? I’m disappointed, new friend.” Chanyeol reads the second text his eyes widening at every word. “New friend?” 

Then it clicks, Chanyeol sits up immediately. “Holy shit!” 

Chanyeol: _Is this Kai?_

Unknown: _took u long enough_  
Unknown: _i told u i’d get in touch with u_

Chanyeol immediately changes the caller ID, not realizing how hard he’s smiling. He thought Kai had just said that to get rid of him and Chanyeol had thought over his approach and concluded that he might have been a little too eager. 

Chanyeol: _how did you get my number?_  
Kai: _u gave me ur business card, remember? Mr. Park Chanyeol who works in a big company_

Chanyeol hums at the missing link, only to hear the whistle of his pot and he bounces from his spot to stir the food. 

Kai: _u should feel special, i dont just text anyone_

Chanyeol: _I genuinely though you lied about knowing how to contact me, to get rid of me LOL_  
Chanyeol: _*minions laughing - gif*_

Kai had changed into his grey hood and matching sweatpants which are a few sizes too big and baggy on him, but it’s comfortable and warm. He sits by his small dinner table and slings on a towel around his neck, to dry his wet hair but he’s too occupied with Chanyeol. 

A ghosty smile on his lips appears as Kai stares at his glowing screen, whispering. “Dork.” 

Kai: _why would i lie? ur fun_  
Kai: _what are u doin still up at this hour?_

Chanyeol glances at the timestamp on his phone, 2:39 A.M, his brows raised. He didn’t realize how late it actually had been. He glances at his food before typing out to Kai. 

Chanyeol: _Making myself a very late dinner_  
Chanyeol: _Kimchi tomato pasta, its my friend’s recipe_

Kai: _u know how to cook? thats sexy_  
Kai: _what r u cooking? teaching me please sir_

Chanyeol whines aloud at the hidden innuendo and actually pouts. He hasn’t been friends with someone who has such a flirty nature like this before, and Chanyeol prides himself in prioritizing his love-life first. 

Chanyeol: _why are you talking like this? And for your informations it’s my 1st time cooking it so I hope I don’t die from food poisoning._

Kai: _u dont like it when I call u sir? It doesnt turn u on?_  
Kai: _would u prefer daddy?_

Chanyeol: _I told you so many times I have a boyfriend! You can't keep being like this it is disrespectful to him_

Kai rolls his eyes at the words in annoyance. “Stupid fucking boyfriend.” 

The stripper couldn’t fathom on why Chanyeol was being very gentleman-like, and it infuriated Kai to no end. It didn’t make any sense as to why Chanyeol would go ahead and shut down any advances from him so quickly and abruptly. Men would pay him money for this type of attention. 

Kai: _I dont believe that u even have a bf_

Chanyeol: _I do! I told you his name is Junmyeon_

Kai: _then send a pic or im calling bullshit_

Chanyeol gapes in disbelief before going into his photo album scrolling in a hurry to the latest picture of both him and Junmyeon cuddling with Junmyeon’s head on Chanyeol’s chest. 

Chanyeol: _*image attachment* this is my very loving boyfriend who I am loyal to, okay?_

Kai hums satisfied that Chanyeol had actually gone through the trouble and sent him a picture when Kai had no right to ask. “It might be easier than I thought to play this game.” 

Kai scans Junmyeon’s soft facial features, sneering at the sight. Junmyeon wasn’t necessarily ugly if Kai had to rate the man, with another glance Kai scoffs at the sight with evident spite. He zooms into Chanyeol’s smiling face with his small dimple showing and Kai can’t help but find him cute. 

Kai: _u look sexy_

Chanyeol reads the text notification and rolls his eyes at the compliment knowing Kai is just teasing. With his pasta cooked, Chanyeol plates his dish and places it on the counter beside his half-drunken cola finally ready to devour the food. Another notification dings and Chanyeol prepares himself for another jab but it’s not what he expected. 

Kai: _send me a pic of ur food too, i might try it out_

Chanyeol: _Sure!!! *dancing SpongeBob - gif*_

Excited, Chanyeol reaches across the counter to the sheet of paper that has the recipe with his scribbly handwriting, that he wrote down when he called Kyungsoo the other day. He then proceeds to take a snapshot of the recipe and the pasta. 

Chanyeol: _*image attachment* Bon Appetite! It actually doesn’t taste terrible LOL_  
Chanyeol: _*image attachment* this is the recipe and like I said it is my friend’s, so excuse my terrible primary school kid handwriting_  
Chanyeol: _tell me if you need me to decipher any words, I know its barely illegible_  
Chanyeol: _send me what you’re eating, so we can be equals *SpongeBob gives thumbs up - gif*_

And just like that the fantasy Kai had built around himself in the midnight hours has broken. The only source of light in his shoe-box sized studio was his phone screen and the dim lights coming from the street spilling in through the window. He hated this, he compares Chanyeol’s hot meal on his phone to what he’s currently about to consume. Kai stares at his half-filled mug of powder soup he’s been rationing for the past three days then back at Chanyeol’s food. In an abrupt manner, Kai grabs his mug and pours the bland liquid in the sink, throwing the mug afterward in disgust. 

“Fuck this.” Kai’s voice is barely audible and shaky, but it echoed so loud in the lonely space. 

He walks over to the window resting his head against the glass, staring at the faint reflection of himself. He likes lying to himself, it makes him feel indestructible against the world but he doesn’t know whether it’s Chanyeol’s constant wholesomeness or his own constant fabrications that caught up to him tonight. He knows his future is bleak, it’s an unwalkable road for him because he was constantly surrounded by darkness that accompanied his misery. 

But Kai wasn’t going to ruin this, he knows he’d get a strong result from Chanyeol if Kai kept up with this challenge. He’ll show Chanyeol that maybe he shouldn’t be always so wholesome and kind and that people are constantly out there to get you. So, Kai focuses back on his phone and goes onto the internet to find a believable picture of some instant noodles that look like he’d taken a photo of, and once he was satisfied with his desired fake picture he sends the image to Chanyeol. Like his boss always chanted, the show must go on. 

Kai: _*Image attachment* instant noodles always wins for midnight cravings_

Chanyeol: _I finished my family-size packet last week, and I haven’t had time to buy some more!_

Kai: _why not mister office worker? u work a basic 9-5 job_

Chanyeol: _I feel like you’re shaming me for having a normal boring job?_

Kai: _i would kill for having a boring ass job_

Kai scoffed in disbelief, staring at his phone. “Imagine sitting in my small fucking cubicle minding my own business, with a steady salary. Probably a company car too.” 

Chanyeol: _I thought you liked your job, well, you gave that impression_

Kai: _keepin the customer happy_

Chanyeol: _I’m sorry I sounded like a dickhead_

Kai: _ur good sweetheart_

Chanyeol: _I’m glad I have you for company, it makes this dinner more fun_   
Chanyeol: _Sorry I sounded super sad, I promise I’m not_

Kai: _thats what sad ppl usually say_

Kai half-smiles knowing that Chanyeol is fretting over his teasing once more and he wishes he could see Chanyeol’s face. 

Chanyeol: _*image attachment* see? I’m not sad with my Kimchi tomato pasta_

Kai sits up from his seat by his dining table, laughing at Chanyeol’s goofy smile and big thumbs up his face leaning towards his food. “Cute..” 

Kai: _thats just straight up depressing now_

Chanyeol: _don't bully me, I don't need to stay up tonight dwelling over how I’ve been locked in the janitor closet for half-day back in high school_

Kai: _u weren’t bullied in high school dont even lie, ur so good-looking_

Chanyeol: _with my sudden heigh spur in 8th grade, and my big ears and my back-acne?_

Kai: _back acne? Who the fuck would take the time to look at ur back acne?_

Chanyeol: _until this day I haven’t a clue as to why Hongbin insisted on tormenting me about it_   
Chanyeol: _he got me kicked off the swimming team because he lied to the teacher that my back acne is contagious_   
Chanyeol: _I could have been an Olympic champion_   
Chanyeol: _then maybe when the annual high school reunion happens he will actually respect me for once_

Kai smiles at Chanyeol’s spamming, the latter seemed genuine and Kai hasn’t meant someone so ordinary and just good. Kai doesn’t necessarily feel bad for playing Chanyeol, after all Kai doesn’t back away from any challenge.

Kai: _ur a good guy_

Kai’s eyes widen at his abruptness, he didn’t mean to type it but he’ll just have to play it cool. 

Kai: _which is why they were messing with u LOL_

“God, I can’t believe I used LOL…” Kai cringes. 

Chanyeol: _haha! Have you ever been bullied? I feel like its a universal thing_

Kai pauses, reminiscing over his high school years. He didn’t have friends if that is where Chanyeol means, nobody wanted to be friends with the school slut. It hurt their reputation, they said. Kai didn’t care about the rumors, snide comments, and the occasional shoves. Everybody was jealous that he had a face everybody would kill to have and that was the one thing nobody could take away from him. 

Kai: _i dont kno_

Chanyeol: _then that’s a no LOL_

Kai: _i once had milk thrown at me because this girl’s boyfriend liked me_

Chanyeol: _milk is the worst to get off clothes!_  
Chanyeol: _my mother would scold me so much when she finds out, she even was ready to spend ever lunch with me in school but I told her that it would make everything worse_  
Chanyeol: _*embarrassed SpongeBob - gif* but I started bringing spare change, so she wouldn’t notice and it worked for a while_

Kai: _i am tired_   
Kai: _i am going to sleep_

Chanyeol nods his head at Kai’s messages, he was thoughtless after all the dancer had just finished work so Chanyeol didn’t take it personally. Instead, he searched for a cute dog sleeping gif to send to Kai. 

Chanyeol: _*sleeping puppy- gif*_  
Chanyeol: _I’m glad we met even if it was unorthodox LOL_   
Chanyeol: _Good night!_

Kai collapses on his mattress, the phone held lazily in his hand. He hated the memories of his childhood flooding into his brain as soon as Chanyeol mentioned his mother. Kai often wondered about how kids like Chanyeol who had caring mothers like that lived, and now he’d met Chanyeol, Kai can say they are filled with love and happiness. 

He held his device high in the air, reading Chanyeol’s messages. It made his chest tighten. Nobody has bid him good night before, it was weird. He kept re-reading it in confusion trying to suppress the feeling of warmth because he knew this didn’t mean anything. He needed to remind himself that immediately. Chanyeol was being friendly, and Kai that night lied to himself once more that it was coming from a place of genuine concern and affection.


	5. Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to show the different dynamics of the characters and inner conflict. 
> 
> ♥6.6K♥ chapter.
> 
> I want to thank every single person who has been so kind and generous in leaving their sweet, sweet comments and kudos! I literally take screenshots of them and re-read them for motivation and moral support. So thank you. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ♡
> 
> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~

“This way, sugar.” Kai purred, tugging the middle-aged man into the private room. 

The champagne was already set on the table when they enter, but Kai doesn’t have it in him to drink already feeling nauseous. He was coming off his high and now he can barely focus, with the pounding headache but he has to make money. 

“Come here,” The man commands patting his thigh, as soon as he sits himself down on the velvet couch making his beer-belly more prominent. Kai makes his way to the man with practiced seduction. 

On any other occasion, Kai would have given the man his usual offers that the club doesn’t permit, which is any sexual activities for extra cash. However, Kai isn’t in the best condition feeling lethargic and heavy-eyed.

“Hands-on the table or your legs sweetheart, no touching alright?” Kai recites the club’s rules monotonously, ready to start his private lap-dance so he can leave to rest. 

Not even a minute into the dance, the man’s wandering hands are traveling up and down Kai’s body. 

“I said no touching, what part of that do you fucking not under—“ Kai gets abruptly cut off. 

“Come on baby don’t pretend that you’re all high and mighty now,” The man takes a hold of Kai’s wrist, and Kai can almost feel his skin burn at the contact. He tugs once, twice, and thrice but to no avail. “Show me what that body can _really_ do.”

“Listen, I’m not some type of whore, you got the wrong person,” Kai explains, his headache is growing and his wrist is beginning to ache. “You wanted a private dance from me, that is all you’re going to get. Bitch.” 

The man grabs Kai’s face digging his fingers in Kai’s cheeks, startling the dancer who stills at the aggressive act. 

“You like to play hard to get. I understand, pretty-face.” The man's lips spread into a sickening smile causing the room temperature to drop. “How much? eh? $50?” 

Kai doesn’t reply, he just keeps tugging trying to free his wrist. He doesn’t want to show that he’s taken back so he keeps his face stoic but his heart was beating so fast and Kai isn’t sure if it’s because he’s scared or because of the withdrawal of oxycodone.

“You want higher? $100? Is that what you want? For a nice little fuck?” 

The customer lets go of Kai mid-struggle causing the dancer to lose his balance and fall on the couch. Kai watches the man towering over him and Kai counts the odds of him winning this fight and they weren’t looking good with the other’s large frame and strength, a contrast to Kai’s being. 

“More?” The man taunts in reply to Kai’s silence. He begins to throw money at Kai, counting them out loud. “….$80, $100 and $120. That is way more than enough for me to get a nice little treat from you, gorgeous.” 

Kai swallows the fear crawling up his throat, flinching at how the man grabs his arm to straighten out Kai’s position. 

“You need to answer when you’re elders are talking to you, you little shit.” The vile man hisses, and Kai nods his head mutely. 

Satisfied with Kai’s compliance, the man lets him go. Petting the stripper’s hair and it takes all of Kai’s will to not flinch. He hates himself for being so easy and bringing himself to such a situation like this. After all, he constantly asks for it, that’s what they all say and Kai rarely ever remembers what he says or does -- often too high or drunk. 

He maneuvers his body away from the latter, picking up the thrown money hesitantly, placing it by the small table in the corner. 

“See? You don’t need to get too cocky around me baby. I knew you wanted it, just had to remind you is all.”

The man laughs despicably, locking the door in one swift motion before walking up to Kai. The stripper needed money, even if he wasn’t in the best condition but then again when was the last time Kai had been fine. 

Numbly Kai begins to take off his small boxers, trying to think of nothing and everything all at once. 

“Slowly! Work for your money, slut.” 

“Okay..” Kai croaked with a lump in his throat.

(—————)

Chanyeol and Junmyeon were currently walking up the restaurant they were about to meet up with Jongdae and Kyungsoo. It wasn’t uncommon for the couple to meet Chanyeol’s friends and vise versa. 

“So, Baekhyun isn’t coming?” Junmyeon asks, wrapping his arm around Chanyeol’s yearning for warmth. 

The YouTuber was supposed to come to their little gathering, excited to finally hang out with all of his best friends. Chanyeol hadn’t exactly mentioned to him that he’ll be bringing his boyfriend over because he knew how Baekhyun would react. What Chanyeol hadn’t anticipated was that Jongdae told Baekhyun in a casual manner that Junmyeon was coming when they were talking about restaurant choice since Junmyeon was a vegan. 

“He’s busy with his skincare line coming out.” Chanyeol hums, skipping over the part of Baekhyun’s exaggerated text-messages of betrayal. 

“When is his launch party for that? We can’t miss it.” Junmyeon exclaimed as they cross the street. “Imagine all of the celebrities and influencers that are going to be there. It’ll be really cool to get pictures with them.” 

Chanyeol nods his head mutely, knowing how excited Junmyeon can get whenever they hang out with famous individuals. Chanyeol wasn’t necessary too big on going out and drinking constantly, he didn’t really like alcohol all that much if he had to be honest. But Junmyeon loved the clubbing scene and often would drag Chanyeol out whenever he finds out Baekhyun is the one inviting them. Chanyeol doesn’t see a problem with it knowing Junmyeon just loved to dance and have fun. It isn’t that serious Chanyeol always reprimanded his friends when they spoke out of line against Junmyeon. 

“Oh? I think I see them,” Junmyeon points to the outdoor seating area as they step onto the restaurant’s ground. “Yup, that’s them! Hey!” 

Junmyeon waves at Kyungsoo and Jongdae who wave back and Chanyeol is grateful that the pair decided to show up and be nice despite not being particularly being fond of Junmyeon. 

“What took you lovebirds so long?” Jongdae complained, waving to the waiter to come. 

“I wanted to walk,” Junmyeon answers with a charming smile, as he seats himself beside Chanyeol and across Kyungsoo. 

“I never tried a vegan place before,” Jongdae chatted, nudging Kyungsoo who rolls his eyes. “Mister Chef over here isn’t too big on the vibe of this place. Too many happy people.” 

“You shouldn’t trust people who smile too much,” Kyungsoo commented, ignoring Junmyeon’s laughter. 

“It isn’t that bad, trust me. It only took me like 3 weeks before I got used to vegan food, because of this one over here.” Chanyeol said, wrapping his arm around Junmyeon’s shoulder. 

“They have the best samosa here,” Junmyeon assured, flagging down a waiter. “Trust me.” 

“I don’t know how to pronounce half of the stuff on the menu.” 

“I’ve given up!” Chanyeol laughs, high-fiving Jongdae. 

“I’ll get the Mac and cheese, it sounds like a safe opti—“Jongdae gets cut off by Junmyeon. 

“Yikes, that sounds like you aren’t even bothering to order. Actually, wouldn’t it be better if I ordered for everyone? After all, I picked the place.” Junmyeon’s tone was off, almost sounding condescending. “I do it for Chanyeollie all the time, right babe?” 

Kyungsoo raises his brows unimpressed by Junmyeon’s sudden leadership over food choices. He was a chef after all, and this was his domain, and his number one rule was that everybody decides on what to eat for themselves because it was an experience. Food shouldn’t be disrespected like that, no matter how petty the situation maybe. 

“Y-Yeah! It’s no biggie, Junmyeon knows best anyway.” Chanyeol laughs it off, trying to erase any tension. 

“Hello! Welcome to Herbs!” The waiter arrives, holding onto his notepad and pen looking far too friendly for Kyungsoo’s liking. “What is your biggest, emotional wound?” 

“What?” Kyungsoo blurs out, taken back. 

The waiter still smiley as ever explains. “It is our question of the day, here at Herbs.” 

Jongdae and Kyungsoo exchange glances and Chanyeol wished he had explained the concept of Junmyeon’s favorite restaurant a little more clearly to them. 

“Oh! Mine is when my granddad didn’t give me his company when he passed, instead he gave it to my uncle. Despicable right?” Junmyeon huffed at the memory. 

“Isn’t your uncle, his son?” Jongdae asked in confusion but it went on deaf ears. 

“Well, thank you for sharing.” The waiter acknowledges. “How can I nourish you, gentlemen, today?” 

“Oversharing more like,” Kyungsoo muttered. 

Jongdae stares at Chanyeol trying to send him signals with his eyes but Chanyeol wasn’t getting them if anything he was worried about Jongdae's eye-sight. 

‘ _nourish?_ ’ Jongdae mouthed to Chanyeol who smiles sheepishly.  
‘ _go along with it_ ’ Chanyeol mouthed back. 

“Yes, we’ll get 4 of your famous samosas—“ 

“What is in the samosa?” Kyungsoo interjects, unbothered by that he cut off Junmyeon. He’ll order what he likes, no relationship with getting in-between him and his stomach. 

Chanyeol’s phone dings and he thanked the heavens for the sudden diversion. It was a text, from Kai. Ever since a fortnight ago, the pair have been getting along nicely, Kai wasn’t that much of a texter but Chanyeol compensated with all of his daily spams and gif attacks. They have met a total of two times in the entire two weeks they became friends, and it was the simple 15-minute walk from the coffee truck to Kai’s workplace, and Chanyeol blames it on their different schedules. 

Kai: _say something nice to me_

Chanyeol furrows his brows at the strange and sudden request. Kai didn’t explain any further and Chanyeol felt a little too shy to ask. So, he sat there for a moment thinking over Kai’s words and Kai’s entire entity, ignoring the white noise around him. Then it struck him, as to why he likes being Kai’s friend. 

Chanyeol: _You’re like rain_

“Hey! No phones on the table,” Junmyeon scolds, nudging Chanyeol to stop and the latter complies instantly tucking in his device. “Thank you.” 

“Where were we?” Chanyeol smiled. 

“Baekhyun’s launch party and how Kyungsoo is going to be catering for it.” 

(—————)

Sehun enters the dressing room ready for a quick break since the stages are all filled, and he can’t be bothered chatting up customers. He falters in his step at the sight before him. There sat with his chin tucked over his knees on a chair was Kai, looking small. 

“Hey, are you good?” Sehun’s soft voice echoes in the empty locker room. 

Kai looks up from his phone, startled. Upon realizing it is Sehun he forces himself to smile even though it's wobbly. He stands up from his position ignoring the dull throbbing traveling through is bones, placing his phone on the table as he begins fixing his faded pink curls. 

Sehun notices how Kai keeps glancing back at his phone screen every few seconds re-reading something that he can’t decipher with Kai’s light mutters. Kai locks eyes with Sehun through the mirror before turning around to face his co-worker fully. 

“Do I remind you of the rain?” 

Sehun isn’t sure where this is going, but he nods ignorantly. He’s more worried that Kai might be high off drugs right now than if he resembles the rain. Sehun knows if he says one wrong thing accidentally he could be setting a firework off. Sehun needed to keep Kai calm and in the dressing room, so nobody can find out. 

“It’s whatever really.” Kai shrugs, but the tears drowning his orbs say another matter. 

Sehun takes a step forward, but Kai takes two back in caution. “Kai...are you high right now?” 

“I fucking wish I was right now,” Kai said truthfully, before rushing to his locker with Sehun on his tail. 

Kai unlocks his locker, pulling out his bag and dumping its contents on the ground shoving his personal belonging around without care until he spots the transparent orange bottle. “I knew I had some Vicodin left…” 

With shaky hands Kai struggles to twist open the bottle cap, but he manages, barely. Sehun snatches the open bottle away in a haste. 

“Don’t! You’re already high!” 

Kai’s laugh is manic and full of amusement, leaning close to Sehun’s face. “I’m not fucking high, I’m fucking losing it. So give me the stupid bottle, so I can stop feeling _so much._ “ 

“You were fine a few hours ago, what the hell happened?” Sehun demanded, and Kai took the opportunity to snatch his bottle back, swallowing the last 4 pills in the bottle. 

“Why do you care, huh? Explain that concept to me, sweetheart.” Kai’s words were weight with hidden intent and it hit Sehun right in the heart. 

“Don’t you dare—“ 

“What the fuck are you going to do?” Kai said with a condescending sneer. 

The dressing room opens once more, revealing Minseok, part-time host and bartender, looking out of breath. He spots the duo squatted on the floor with Kai’s items scattered around them. Kai’s eyes narrow at the new arrival, while Sehun’s widen in panic. 

“I’m not even going to ask what is going on here,” Minseok starts off watching Sehun collect Kai’s stuff in a rush. “But I need to confirm to management right now.” 

“About what?” Sehun asks. 

Minseok’s eyes shift to Kai who keeps his face stoic. “I heard the guy you took to the champagne room boast that he fucked you and left you there.” 

Sehun’s blood runs cold at the thought, he knew Kai went against the club rules constantly but he’s never been caught. His thoughts are running wild, Sehun wonders if the customer that was with Kai caused his horrible attitude. 

If Kai looked fazed, he didn’t show it. He simply stands up, leaning against the lockers with his arms crossed lazily looking the epiphany of nonchalantness. “Didn’t take you to be a snitch, Minseok.” 

Minseok frowns, hands on his hips at the accusation. “You know I don’t snitch. He was really handsy with the staff.”

“What are you asking me then?” Kai’s stare is intense and Minseok averts his gaze to Sehun momentarily almost pleading with the youngster. 

“If something happened, we can call security, you won’t get in trouble,” Sehun explained, holding onto Kai’s wrist trying to make him look at him but the latter shrugged him off. 

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Kai whispered heatedly, shoving Sehun away from him. 

“Kai, work with me. If he touched you without consent I need to report it. It’s for your benefit.” Minseok tries again with a huff. 

Kai snatches his bag from Sehun’s grip and walks to the mirror to his unofficial-official corner space. He pulls out his makeup bag, rummaging through its content. 

“He couldn’t afford me, even if he wanted to fuck me.” Kai tuts as he tries to re-apply his eyeliner but his hand is too shaky so he throws it back in the bag. 

“Kai.” 

The pink-head turns around sharply, his eyes thunderous before he relaxes his features into the widest and most artificial grin. “Nothing happened. He wanted a hand-job and I gave it to him. Now if he wants to lie and make his ego as big as his dick then that’s his business.” 

Sehun knew Kai was not telling the truth, he has known the other stripper for a long time now. But he wasn’t about to out his friend, neither needed more trouble. 

“That is all I needed to know.” Minseok sighs, pulling the door open but stops when Kai calls him. 

“Can you get me a shot of tequila?” 

Minseok nods his head, then looks to Sehun. “You?” 

“I’m good Minseokie.” Sehun smiles gratefully, watching the part-timer leave the dressing room. 

As soon as the pair were left alone, Sehun grabs Kai’s makeup bag away from him. Yanking out the eyeliner Kai needed earlier. Kai doesn’t speak, he just closes his eyes feeling the felt-tip of the liquid liner on his eyelids. Sehun doesn’t comment on how Kai is gripping onto his sheer shirt tightly like a child afraid of getting lost in a crowd. Sehun lets him be, and as soon as he finishes applying the inky liquid he taps Kai’s hand, gazing at how Kai has let go of him. 

Kai doesn’t thank him and Sehun doesn’t expect it. 

“You shouldn’t mix Vicodin and alcohol,” Sehun states, watching Kai’s eyes harden. 

Kai always warned Sehun to not meddle with what he does, it was his business and his alone. But Sehun couldn’t ignore Kai and pretend that the latter is unimportant to him and that he doesn’t care if Kai winds up dead with his dangerous lifestyle. He’d be lying. 

“It is really sad how jealous you are of me, always trying to ruin things for me.” 

“Why didn’t you say he fucked you, forced you! Do you even remember it?” Sehun spits his voice raising higher at each word, shoving Kai back, fury blinding him for a moment. “I’m surprised you’re even breathing with all of the drugs in your system!” 

“And there it is!” Kai's laugh was loud and empty as he opens his arms in disbelief. “I don’t have a drug problem. I need to take the edge off sometimes.” 

The arguing had dull exhaustion to it like they’d been over the same bitterness too many times already. 

“Do you hear yourself? You are so delusional—“ 

“I am not delusional!” Kai’s shout reverberated like a clap of thunder, much like his rage. A roar of pure anger. 

Sehun knew he over-stepped but Kai needed to be stopped for his own sake. He couldn’t bare the thought of losing Kai. Before he could speak Kai presses himself against Sehun, his hand places firmly on Sehun’s nape. 

“I let him fuck me. We fucked.” Kai hissed, their orbs locked with a tornado of conflict and hurt. “He fucked me way better than you ever did. He pounded me, like an animal in heat. Are you jealous now? That I let him fuck me, raw? While you wait for me like the dumb lovesick puppy you are, to give you my time.” 

“Don’t…” Sehun swallowed the lump in his throat, his voice raspy and his eyes sting. 

“To flash you a smile when you talk, to hold your hand when we leave work? Eh? Is that it? Do you like it when I kiss you when I’m high and wish I would do it when I’m not? I pity you, Sunshine. I pity that you like someone like me.” 

Every word over-pronounced, slicing rather than tumbling through the suffocating air. 

“Dickhead.” Sehun breathed out his vision blurry from all the tears building up.

Sehun hypnotized takes Kai in, letting the latter lean in their lips inches away but they don’t touch. Kai’s mouth twists into a wicked smirk, pushing Sehun away with a light push. 

“Don’t cross your boundaries again with me, know your place, Sunshine.” 

(——————)

The cloudy night rolls in covering the last of the twilight sky as if the blackness failed to come fast enough. The rolling grey rapidly becomes as invisible as the stars it conceals, but the air still feels cool. 

Chanyeol sighs in relief, as he shuts his front door. Today wasn’t surprisingly bad like he first initiated with the lunch date, knowing how Junmyeon can come across as a little condescending with his word choices when he speaks. He also knows how Kyungsoo can easily get fired up when food is involved. This caused the two of them to clash over lunch but Jongdae and himself have mediated the situation well enough. 

Now he couldn’t wait to get in the shower and then sleep. But the stars tonight had different ideas, because just as Chanyeol was about to head to his room to undress his phone chimes. 

Kai: _buy me food_

“At this hour?” Chanyeol blurs out, checking the time. It was 9:04 P.M. it may not be necessarily late-late but Chanyeol’s day has been fulfilling and he doesn’t have that much energy left. It was a long day for him. 

Chanyeol: _Now? It’s late, don’t you think?_

Kai: _I’m waiting by the Daehak-ro station_

Chanyeol raises his brows surprised, that was in his district. It’ll take him 10 minutes at most to reach the station, he was just about to decline when Junmyeon’s words from today ring in his mind. 

**Chanyeol’s problem is that he’s always too comfortable in his bubble. I’m not saying it is a bad thing, but it isn’t a good thing either. Right, babe?**

Chanyeol had played along to Junmyeon’s comment, wanting to save face in front of his friends. There was nothing wrong with finding comfort and staying it. Sure, he could be more out-going and social but it was a lengthy process for Chanyeol. He was working on himself, it’s just taking him a long time to reach it than others. 

Chanyeol: _Give me 10 mins!_  


It isn’t hard for Chanyeol to spot Kai in the streets with his pink hair and his fuzzy purple jacket. Chanyeol hollers to the dancer, his arm high in the air as he jogs across the street watching Kai turn around slowly staring at him with a blank expression.

“Hello!” Chanyeol greets warmly but gets no response back. 

Instead, Kai starts to walk down the street with Chanyeol rushing beside him confused by Kai’s silence. 

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Chanyeol asks, touching Kai’s arm as the latter flinches at the harmless contact. 

Kai stops, turning to face Chanyeol. His eyes laced in red, lips twitched into a broken smile. 

“I-I wanted to ask you, what did you mean when you said I’m like rain?” 

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks again, inspecting Kai’s face in concern. “Kai, are…are you high?” 

Kai’s forced smile doesn’t budge, he just shrugs. “A little, to take things off the edge. Y’know how it is.” 

Chanyeol parts his lips wanting to say something, anything but nothing comes out. Instead, he looked like a goldfish opening and closing his mouth. Kai took the initiative once more and began walking, as Chanyeol hurries to walk beside him. 

“There is this dumpling place, they are the best.” Kai’s voice sounded forceful as if the words were broken glass struggling to escape his chapped lips. 

Apprehension was filling Chanyeol’s body like a hot-air balloon. He wondered what possibly caused Kai to be in such a saddening state like this, something must have occurred for the dancer to act so off. Chanyeol needed to get to the bottom of this, after all they are now friends and the one thing Chanyeol prides himself in is that he’s always there when it matters. 

Kai doesn’t wait for Chanyeol as he enters the small restaurant, ignoring the staff and heading straight for the nearest table which was by the window giving an overview of the street. He watches Chanyeol through the glass watch him with evident worry, and Kai can’t help but laugh at himself. 

“How pitiful am I…” Kai whispered, his eyes glued to Chanyeol moving from the street and into the restaurant and seating himself across from the stripper. 

“Kai..” Chanyeol trails off, this was new territory to him. Completely untouched. 

“Hey! Can we get two spicy wontons with special chili pepper sauce?” Kai calls out to one of the workers who nod at his request. 

Chanyeol still barely knew anything personal about Kai, their chats for the past two weeks it often revolved around Chanyeol’s life rarely touching on Kai’s. 

“What happened?” Chanyeol’s voice is soft and caring and Kai didn’t like that. 

Kai leans forward, pushing his hair back trying to look as appealing and sultry as possible. “Why would you think something happened, bunny? I missed you is all.” 

Chanyeol moves his hand away as soon as Kai places his on top. “Kai. We are friends—“

“Yes, yes! You have a stupid fucking boyfriend, I know!” Kai groaned in annoyance, glaring at Chanyeol. 

“I don’t know what is going on with you right now—“ Chanyeol gets cut off again. 

“What the hell is wrong with you, huh? You see all of this,” Kai gestures to his body, running his hands around it. “And you still have the nerve to reject me? I-I got paid $120 for letting a guy fuck me, he wanted _me_ alright? So what gives you the nerve to not want me? I’m asking for it now and you still say no? Why? Huh? Tell me fucking why so I can understand!” 

People are looking at them, and Chanyeol needs to get Kai out of here. He wasn’t in his right mind. The staff with their order pauses shock at the sight of Kai hitting his forehead repeatedly, and Chanyeol yanks Kai’s arm away to stop him from hurting himself any further. 

“Stop it! Kai!” Chanyeol pleaded as Kai tries to pull himself free from Chanyeol’s iron grip, triggering him from today’s incident in the champagne room, causing him to go into a frenzy. 

“Let go of me! Let go, you piece of shit! Ugh!” 

Chanyeol needed to take Kai somewhere safe, but he didn’t know where Kai lived nor was the latter being cooperative. His only solution was for them to go back to his place. 

Chanyeol hauls Kai off his feet, holding the dancer from the back tightly in a restrain-like manner to stop him from lashing out so harshly. They stepped out of the restaurant and Kai’s fight seems to have subdued and Chanyeol carefully letting go of him, watching the stripper gather his breath. 

“Kai you aren’t thinking straight. I can’t with good conscious leave you on your own tonight.” Chanyeol explained panic and desperation laced in his tone. 

Kai was unstable; his breath, his voice, his posture. “What are you going to do about it? Manhandle me again?”

“You were hurting yourself.” Chanyeol frowned at the accusation. 

Kai eyes Chanyeol up and down, before making his move. He smiles with a sickening sweetness as he maneuvers into Chanyeol’s personal space pressing his palms on Chanyeol’s chest, fingers eager. 

“You can be rough with me if you want,” Kai whispers, looking up at Chanyeol with glassy eyes, his smile stiff. “I don’t mind, baby. You can hit me, choke me, fuck me until I’m unconscious— whatever you like…” 

Chanyeol steps back as if he’s been burned by fire. He can’t believe the words that are coming out of Kai’s mouth, it hurts his heart. Kai just stood there limply, waiting for Chanyeol to do something, his mind racing with too many dark thoughts for him to focus on any. 

“Come on, I’m bored!” Kai snaps, shoving Chanyeol back at every word. “I’m all yours! Fucking touch me! Do it! Play with me, like everybody else!” 

Chanyeol holds Kai’s forearms to stop him. “What is going on with you! Kai, do you even hear yourself?” 

Kai doesn’t struggle against Chanyeol’s grip anymore, much as he had done with the elder man in the champagne room. He’s desperate for attention, for anything. So he simply grins maniacally, lolling his head back. 

“Kai, look at me.” Chanyeol orders but the pink-head collapses onto him, the fight burned out of him evidently from his glazed over orbs. “Kai, look at me. Can you do that? Kai. Kai.” 

Kai was unresponsive, letting the euphoria of the drugs take over his foggy brain fully, letting himself feel numb once more. He needed a warm body tonight, but Sehun wasn’t talking to him and the only other person he knew was Chanyeol. He couldn’t be alone tonight, he didn’t trust himself. He knew he wasn’t just high but also drunk — with self-hatred. 

Just when Chanyeol about to pull out his phone to call of help, Kai speaks. 

“Take me to your place.”  
“Kai—“  
“Please. Just tonight.”

Chanyeol squats on the ground in front of an unsteady Kai, he turns around. “Hop on my back, Kai.” 

Kai blinks, before doing as he’s told wrapping his arms around Chanyeol’s neck once the latter stands up adjusting his posture. Chanyeol holds onto Kai firmly, not wanting him to slip off his back. His house wasn’t far from here, and Chanyeol thanks the heavens for that. 

“Are you mad at me?” Kai mumbles after they crossed the street, resting his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder. 

Chanyeol doesn’t speak, his heart racing at this impromptu situation. He would have never expected in a million years to be put in such an intense predicament like this. He’s angry at Kai for his wild and ludicrous behavior, at how he put himself in danger at night and alone. What if Chanyeol had declined to come over, he couldn’t bare to think of what would have happened to Kai. 

“Rain makes me unafraid, and I love to listen to it,” Chanyeol answers instead, feeling Kai’s grip tighten. “Because the world seems so cautious of it at first, but as soon as you’re reaching out with your fingertips for the droplets to melt on, you realize there was nothing to worry about.” 

Kai doesn’t speak any further as Chanyeol carries him back to his apartment with the crisp air blowing in their direction. 

(—————) 

Chanyeol has made Kai a cup of hot tea to warm up his freezing body, but Kai didn’t touch the mug. Instead, he just sat by the couch staring at the coffee table trying to make himself as small as possible.

“How do you feel?” Chanyeol asks a little timidly, sitting all the way on the other side of the couch. 

Kai shrugs, he was feeling much calmer knowing the climax of the drugs had begun to wear off since he hadn’t taken a large dosage. He was having a break down in the street, a moment of insanity he pondered, the drugs just seemed to be the tipping point for him to explode tonight. Like many other nights before. 

He just felt a little out of place being in an unfamiliar home. He glances at Chanyeol before picking up the mug of tea, sipping it for the sake of Chanyeol’s hospitality. “Warmer.” 

“I’m glad, are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” 

Kai nods his head, glancing at Chanyeol. “My high is fading out. I’m fine.” 

“That was, erm, uncanny.” Chanyeol splutters, only to gape at Kai’s loud snort. 

Kai covers his mouth immediately, unable to hold back his laugh. “Sorry! That was just a funny way to say ‘scared shitless’.” 

“I can’t believe that you’re laughing right now! It isn’t funny!” Chanyeol scolds, rubbing his face exhausted as he leans back. 

A pang of guilt embeds itself in Kai’s heart, and the latter knew he was in the wrong. Slowly, Kai turns his body to face Chanyeol fully. “You are such a sweet guy, and I’m sorry…if I freaked you out. I don’t usually go crazy like that, not that easily anyway.” 

“Why did you freak out?” Chanyeol’s voice is low, peeking at Kai through his lashes before breaking eye-contact.

Kai reaches for his mug of tea and drinks the contents in one quick motion, not tasting it. A habit he picked up when he used to dumpster dive. 

“Where am I sleeping?” Kai says instead, eyes straight ahead at the black television screen. 

Chanyeol knew it was too soon for him to ask, he just couldn’t help but be curious. He wanted to know what made Kai become unhinged. He might have better luck tomorrow. 

“I have a guest room, you can sleep there,” Chanyeol explains with a small smile, as he stands up. 

“That’s fancy.” Kai teased, following Chanyeol like an obedient kitten into the corridor. 

“It’s small, sorry to disappoint.” 

Upon entering the guest room, Kai first noticed how clean it was, much like the rest of Chanyeol’s apartment. The bed was larger than his own and Kai held himself back from touching it. 

“I’ll ring you some pajamas to change into,” Chanyeol informed softly. “If you want.” 

As soon as Chanyeol leaves Kai throws his bag on the ground, placing his palm on the smooth bed running his hand through the material unused to the fabric that wasn’t’ scratchy. 

“Okay, I think these will fit you.” Chanyeol is back and Kai withdraws his palm instantly. “The bathroom is across from you, if you need anything tell me. I’m next door.” 

Kai nods his head mutely, watching Chanyeol struggle to move from his spot. His eyes exposing the conflict in his mind. Kai wishes he wasn’t such a burden sometimes. 

“I won’t do anything. I promise.” Kai reassures quietly. 

Chanyeol swallows the words wedged in his throat thickly, before giving Kai an awkward thumbs up reeling out of the room backward. “Have a good night.” 

And just like that Kai was alone once more. He doesn’t waste time in going to the bathroom ready to wash his face away, all the thick, cake-like makeup layered on his face. Kai falters in his step once he realizes the mirror is also a small cabinet. Kai glances at the closed door, then back at the cabinet opening it. He can see a few bottle prescriptions, he stops himself from even picking it up. He promised Chanyeol. 

Kai returns to his room for the night, ignoring the tremble in his hands. He looked at himself in the full-length mirror with the silky navy pajama set on him. They were very big on his bony frame, he concluded numbly. 

The drugs were barely in his system, and he wished they hadn’t faded. Because as he sat on the unfamiliar crisp bed, he could feel the walls closing in on him. The silence was drowning him. Kai hated it. He pulls his legs into his chest, as he tried to calm himself. There were no drunks yelling out into the street, no driving cars, booming music from one of the neighbors like in his house. The silence wasn’t Kai’s friend, it wasn’t comforting at all. It just helped his thoughts roam wild. 

He needed a body beside him, to distract him from the forever growing hurt inside of him like relentless weeds. He stares at the door and without a second of hesitation he leaps out of bed and rushes to Chanyeol’s room. 

“Kai?” 

The lanky male was tucked in bed with his phone in his hand, with knitted brows. Kai doesn’t waste any time jumping on Chanyeol’s bed, trying to undo his shirt buttons with shaky fingers but he can’t do it so he just tugs the silky pajama shirt off his head tossing it on the ground. 

“What are you doing?” Chanyeol yelps, at the half-naked stripper on his bed. 

Kai crawls on Chanyeol’s lap, his hands planted firmly on Chanyeol’s thighs. “I want to give you a present for helping me out, cutie.” 

“Kai I don’t know what is going on right now but I don’t want any—“

“Ssh! Let me work my magic, baby.” Kai’s eyes shined in desperation, hooking his fingers into his pants elastic band, quickly tugging off his pants. 

Chanyeol pushes Kai off him, as he gets out of bed in a haste horrified by the sight before him. Kai sat there with his underwear, looking up at Chanyeol his hands gripping onto the bedsheets tightly like a frightened child pretending he isn’t frantic. 

“I can make you feel good! Let me make you feel good,” Kai reaches out to undo Chanyeol’s own buttoned-up shirt. “I know you’re shy.” 

Chanyeol slaps his hands away, but Kai doesn’t stop. His eyes are tearing up, reaching out again to Chanyeol desperate for warmth, comfort, a diversion from his horrible thoughts. 

“Kai, stop!” Chanyeol pushes Kai’s trembling hands once more and that is when Kai snaps. 

“Just let me fucking do it! Please! I need this!” 

What Kai doesn’t expect was for Chanyeol to step towards him, wrapping his arms around his thin frame paralyzing Kai from moving. Kai smells the fresh detergent in Chanyeol’s shirt, pressing his face into the latter’s chest as Chanyeol moves his hand to pat down Kai’s wild curls. 

“We can talk about it tomorrow…”Chanyeol murmurs kindly, feeling Kai clutch onto the hem of Chanyeol's shirt unable to fully reach out and hug Chanyeol back. “When you aren’t like this.” 

Kai pushes him away in an instant, his cheeks tear-stained but eyes fiery with defense. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“When you aren’t still a little high and drained—“  
“I’m not—“

“—I’m not the answer,” Chanyeol says firmly, and that is when Kai’s shoulders drop. Defeated. 

Kai felt disgusted at himself and his actions but it wasn’t a new emotion to engulf his body, but tonight it gave him more ache that he could handle. He just wanted to close his eyes and drift away like a speckle of dust. What brings him back to reality was Chanyeol’s light nudge. Kai refocuses on Chanyeol nudging him once more, as Kai shuffles back on the bed confused by the silent command. 

“Put this on, your skin is like ice.” Chanyeol murmurs, handing Kai a sweater that swallowed Kai’s body, far too big for him. 

Kai grips onto his newly made sweater-paws, only to feel the bed dip at the new weight. Chanyeol has laid down in his previous position, placing the spare pillow in the middle of the bed like a barricade. Kai furrows his brows further at the action. 

“That is your side of the bed, and this is mine.” Chanyeol gestures to the newly created divide. 

“Y-You’re sharing the bed?” Kai mumbles perplexed. 

“If you want to be alone—“  
“No.” 

“Alright then, stay on your side,” Chanyeol spoke to Kai with care, like a small child and the latter nodded his head obediently sitting by his side of the bed. “We’re both exhausted, we can talk tomorrow. If you want.” 

Kai doesn’t say anything, he simply lays down on the bed. Letting Chanyeol pull the duvet over them. Chanyeol needed to keep an eye on Kai, he knew he shouldn’t have left him alone in the guest room. It was better to have him by his side, than a door away. 

Kai turns to Chanyeol, who glances back at the dancer. 

“I don’t like to sleep alone, because the world doesn’t seem so lonely if someone is beside me.” 

Kai’s voice is a hushed whisper, almost afraid of being heard. Then it clicks, Chanyeol’s stomach flips unpleasantly at the assumption. “You don't need to have sex with me to ask if we can share a bed.” 

Kai thinks back to the champagne room today and his eyes tear-up at the assault, and how kind Chanyeol is being. He can’t hold back his overflowing tears, he dips his head under the duvet trying to hide his whimpering. Today has been a whirlwind of emotions. He shouldn’t have seduced the man into fucking him, it was his fault, it was always his fault. He shouldn’t have picked a fight with Sehun, and made him sad it was unfair. He shouldn’t have broken down in front of Chanyeol and caused a scene. He shouldn’t be born, at all. 

“Your okay.” 

Kai snaps his eyes open to see that Chanyeol has also dived under the covers, reaching over the pillow border with an open palm, gesturing with his head encouragingly at Kai to hold his hand. Kai extends his hand slowly letting Chanyeol’s palm hold his. 

“I’m okay,” Kai whispers back, with a sniff and a nod. 

Chanyeol begins to hum the tune to some kid song, and Kai focuses on Chanyeol's deep voice and how soothing it was. It doesn’t take long at all for Kai to close his eyes, letting sleep envelop him little-by-little — then all at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~


	6. The Best Omelet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to show how quickly Kai's mood shifts, all the while adding a little insight to his mentality. 
> 
> ♥6.6K♥ chapter.
> 
> I also want to thank every single person who took the time to write their sweet and kind comments and gave kudos! I really appreciate you! I am so lucky to have readers who are actively engaged with the story and pour their hearts out. I legit take screenshots of them and save them in an album dedicated to comments, and re-read them for motivation and moral support. So thank you. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ♡

Chanyeol grunts at the sunlight attacking him through the small slit in the curtains. He wants to sleep more, exhausted and still groggy from last night. And in an instant his eyes open at there realization that last night truly did happen, the chaos flooding his mind like an unwelcomed typhoon. He turns to his side unsure if has all been a bad dream but there was Kai passed out beside him clutching onto Chanyeol’s hand across the pillow barricade. Chanyeol tries to pull his hand free but Kai’s grip was tight and he pauses not wanting to wake up the dancer. 

“Thank God it’s the weekend…” Chanyeol muttered under his breath, grateful that he has no work today or he’d already be late. 

Chanyeol turns back to Kai’s sleeping face taking a moment to look at him, properly look at him for the first time in clear light without makeup, just bare skin with faint golden glitter residue here and there. He had a few blemishes on his cheeks and Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile because even they looked endearing on him, reminded him that Kai was only human even if he acted like he was invincible. Kai’s hair is ruffled from his night’s sleep, the pink strands were intertwined wild as the jungle vines, untamable and unruly. And Chanyeol had to stop himself from touching the pink curls. 

Last night was terrifying, it was the first time he had been forced into such a sudden and abrupt position. No matter how much Kai had scared him from all of his ludicrous screaming and thrashing, Chanyeol felt hurt for the other’s hurt. He wanted to wrap Kai up in his arms and hug him until all of the pain behind his eyes evaporates. It made Chanyeol wonder how much someone must be tortured and in pain, for them to be careless and open like Kai has been with Chanyeol even though they haven’t known each other for that long. Kai had exhausted himself and it didn’t take long for him to pass out. Unlike Chanyeol, he stayed wide awake, his arm tingling with numbness across the bed because Kai was clutching onto it with both hands tightly like a child.

“Hey sleepy, you need to wake up..” Chanyeol’s voice is even deeper from the slumber, pulling his hand away from Kai’s tight grip slowly, and succeeding. 

Kai’s eyes snap open as if it’s an emergency, and sits up with blurry eyes unsure of who or where he is. His heart is beating fast and there’s a buzzing in his mind, and together they jump-lead his fight or flight instinct. His muscles felt weak however, just like his energy. 

“It’s okay! You’re okay, sorry did I frighten you?” 

Chanyeol’s voice seemed so far away to Kai even though they were inches away from one another. Kai blinks at him, his blurriness fading, and the surroundings become crisper. 

Kai is hungover, not from drinking or drugs, but from his nightmare that demand solutions. 

“Kai, are you alright?” Chanyeol says, hesitant to reach out to the youngster. 

Kai nodded his head once, looking around in caution at the new setting. For the first time in a long time, Kai’s morning wasn’t grey, but a soothing orange hue from Chanyeol’s curtains with the sunlight peeking. Kai reminds himself to breathe, as he turns around to face Chanyeol with furrowed brows. 

“You can have a shower if you want…then we can talk over breakfast?” Chanyeol suggests after a beat of silence, with Kai simply staring at him as if he’s grown another head. 

Kai runs his hand through the soft covers once more before standing up at Chanyeol’s words, eyeing him with skepticism. Chanyeol realizes he can’t look directly into Kai’s orbs for a long period of time from how intense they were so he stands up and walks quickly to the wardrobe. 

“You can borrow my clothes, I don’t know if they’ll fit you,” Chanyeol glances back at Kai wearing his sweater that reached above his knees from how large Chanyeol’s clothing was. “I think it’ll be best if you pick out what your comfortable actually with size-wise and stuff…” 

Kai nods his head again obediently, his face still guarded. 

“Erm, there are towels, in the bathroom. You remember where it is from last night, right?” Chanyeol receives another mute nod. “Good. I’m going to go make us breakfast, so yes. Breakfast is what I am making. Breakfast is the goal for now. Yup. Okay. I’ll leave you to it. In the kitchen, if you need anything. I’m rambling.” 

Chanyeol makes his way to the door only to feel a tug on his shirt. 

“You don’t want to shower with me?” Kai’s asked with a raspy tone, after all his kicking and screaming from the night before. 

“What?” Chanyeol takes a step back scandalized, wrapping his arms around himself. “No, definitely not! Why would you think I’d want to shower with you?”

Kai scrunches his face in further perplexity tilting his head to the side like a pup. “To have shower sex for letting me sleep here?” 

And just like that, the color drained out of Chanyeol’s face. Kai had no need to exchange his body for Chanyeol to treat him with decency. 

“Do you seriously see me like that? As someone who’d do that?” Chanyeol said with evident offense written on his face. 

“I don’t like owing people,” Kai replied stiffly, clutching and unclenching his sweater-paws anxious about upsetting Chanyeol, he didn’t like it. Not one bit. 

Chanyeol closes his eyes for a moment trying to not let his emotions run wild, he wants to shake some sense into Kai, to tell him that he doesn’t need to do things like that to owe people. That the only right way to repay kindness was to be kind, to spread it. That’s more than enough. 

“Did I make things awkward?” Kai said in a small voice. 

Kai brings Chanyeol back to reality. He doesn’t see the over-zealous, flirty dancer in front of him. Instead, there stood a lonely a kid that was malnourished of love, in all its forms. The biggest one being self-love. 

Chanyeol shakes his head softly, the cracks in Kai’s facade weren’t difficult to spot when you tried to get to know him. And Chanyeol saw him. 

“Do you like omelets?” Chanyeol asked instead, watching Kai unable to hold back the surprised expression. 

“I’m not sure,” Kai answered truthfully, he’s never had time to taste and savor food since he’s been brought up in that type of environment where you needed to wolf-down your plate with a limited amount of time and place, it’s a miracle when he actually eats a meal nowadays. 

Chanyeol smiles at him and Kai holds his breath at the sight. 

“Challenge accepted my fellow champion,” Chanyeol said in a robot-like voice reenacting one of the video games he owns. “Your meal shall be in the dining room waiting for your arrival, Sire.” 

Kai ducks his head down fighting at smile at how silly Chanyeol is and heads out of the room in a rush to the bathroom. Chanyeol snorts at Kai’s behavior, happy to see the pink-head smile even if it’s less than a second.

Chanyeol heads to the kitchen ready to prepare the best possible omelet he could ever make, however, what he doesn’t expect to see in his living room couch, at 9 in the morning, was Baekhyun. 

“How the hell did you get in?” Chanyeol yelps, stopping in his tracks.

Baekhyun doesn’t lift his gaze to Chanyeol too absorbed in whatever he seems to be typing on his phone. “The spare key you gave me.” 

Chanyeol scoffs in disbelief, hitting Baekhyun across the head in annoyance. “I gave you that key for emergencies!” 

“This is an emergency!” Baekhyun protests, tearing his eyes away from his phone screen finally looking at Chanyeol. “A fashion emergency.” 

“Excuse me?” Chanyeol blinks in disbelief at what he’s hearing. “You broke into my home for a fashion emergency in the morning?” 

Baekhyun grins, standing up and planting a loud kiss on Chanyeol’s cheek before pushing past him heading tot he kitchen. “Thanks to your stupid boyfriend for riling up Kyungsoo yesterday, he has decided to want to meet with _me_ for lunch to talk shit about Junmyeon! Just the two of us, a date basically!” 

Baekhyun has been harboring feelings for Kyungsoo for over a year now, and he has been trying to court the chef ever since but Kyungsoo keeps declining and rejecting all efforts because he doesn’t see Baekhyun as more than a friend. He even told Baekhyun that he has never been attracted to him in that way, and would hate to ruin their friendship over this. Baekhyun however was determined to prove to Kyungsoo wrong. 

Chanyeol trails after Baekhyun with a roll of eyes. “Can you not call Junmyeon stupid?” 

“But he is stupid, and when Kyungsoo tells me what he did yesterday he’ll be more of a dumbass. Why are you even with him?” Baekhyun complained, grabbing the kettle and turning on the sink faucet to fill it in. “Ugh, is that alternative eggs?”

“Yeah, that’s Junmyeon’s. Now, you said you’re here for a fashion emergency, but I don’t see any clothes around.” 

“That is because I have dedicated all of last night as soon as Kyungsoo texted me, to trying on outfits and taking a picture of them to show you, a portfolio if you will.” Baekhyun clapped his hands together with a grin. He pulls out his phone and clicks on [Photos] before showing Chanyeol the new album he created with 32 outfits.

“I actually made it into a YouTube video halfway through, y’know two birds one stone kind of moment,” Baekhyun explained, opening the cupboards in search of mugs for their tea. 

Chanyeol’s can’t help but laugh at Baekhyun’s eagerness, it isn’t like Kyungsoo and Baekhyun have never gone out alone before. “You guys have hung out plenty of time before.” 

“He was the one that asked me! I usually drag him, so this is a big deal, Yeollie.” Baekhyun’s eyes twinkled. 

“I just don’t wanna see you get crushed when Kyungsoo shuts down any of your advances.” _again_ , Chanyeol leaves unspoken.

Baekhyun waves his hand in dismissal, “I won’t, don’t worry about it. Now, what do you think looks good?” 

It’s too early for Baekhyun’s shenanigans, he doesn’t even have caffeine in his system to handle Baekhyun. Especially since last night was rough and just like that terror overtook his face. Kai. He forgot that Kai is here. And Baekhyun is also here. 

“I really like the second one, the all-white fit. You got my advice, now you can leave.” 

Chanyeol needs to get rid of Baekhyun before he spots Kai because that would be game over for him. He’ll never hear the end of it. Ever. So, he shoves Baekhyun’s phone back in his hands in a hasty manner, pushing him towards the front door a little forcefully. 

“What are you doing, I haven’t finished making my coffee! is this how you treat your guests?” Baekhyun panted after getting himself out of Chanyeol’s grip. 

Chanyeol can hear the shower turn off faintly, and his eyes glance to the hallway in anxiousness before focusing on Baekhyun. “I need to go somewhere, and that means you need to leave.” 

“Where the hell are you going so early in the morning?” Baekhyun counter-attacks taking a stance with crossed arms. Chanyeol is definitely acting strange and he needed to figure it out immediately. 

“Junmyeon! H-He’s meeting me here, I’d hate for you two to meet knowing how much you hate him.” Chanyeol tried another approach, hoping it will scare Baekhyun away. 

Baekhyun squints his eyes, studying Chanyeol’s features trying to detect if it’s a lie or not. “Why are you trying to get rid of me all of a sudden?” 

“I’m not! I just don’t like it when you invade my apartment uninvited.” Chanyeol’s answers defensively, reaching over for the front door handle and is confused when Baekhyun is suddenly being cooperative and moves out of the way. “I’m glad you can understand—“

“Who are you?” Baekhyun blurs out his brows hidden in his fringe. “Holy shit, you’re drop-dead gorgeous.” 

Chanyeol holds his breath, he’s been caught. In slow-motion Chanyeol turns around to the direction where Baekhyun was currently staring at Kai. He was dressed in Chanyeol’s favorite black hoodie with the sleeves bunched around his wrists and a pair of shorts barely peeking through the oversized hood that reached his mid-thighs. 

“Is he wearing your clothes?” Baekhyun adds, further surprised.

Kai doesn’t answer him, instead, he gives Baekhyun a once-over with a blank expression trying to know who exactly he might be. He doesn’t particularly care for the man, so he makes his way to Chanyeol wrapping his arms around Chanyeol’s waist, hugging him. This caused both Chanyeol and Baekhyun to gasp at the unexpected action. 

Chanyeol peels Kai’s arms off him with care, but the latter presses himself against Chanyeol once more enjoying the warmth radiating off Chanyeol. He just likes being near Chanyeol, it was nice and safe. 

“You guys fucked. Definitely fucked.” Baekhyun confirms, the corner of his eyes crinkling in delight at the sight before him. “You cheated on Junmyeon with this guy! Finally, you’ve come to your senses and can see why you shouldn’t be with Junmyeon!” 

“Kai.” Chanyeol scolds quietly, pulling away from the dancer once more. “He’s a friend who has no concept of personal space, or boundaries.” 

Baekhyun gives him a pointed look not believing him for one second, and Chanyeol glances to Kai who is still standing beside him, their forearms brushing. 

“When did you have hot friends and not tell me? Or just friends, in general. And not tell me.” Baekhyun scoffed. “I’m not stupid.” 

“You look it though.” Kai murmured in disinterest, playing with his sleeves that are fully covering his hands now.

Chanyeol glances at Kai in alarm, not wanting the pair to clash. “He’s my friend, stop being weird about it! Kai this is Baekhyun, and vise versa.”

Kai doesn’t think he’s felt this calm before. He just wants to be around Chanyeol and in this safe space for a little while longer before he has to leave back outside into his reality. So, he simply presses his cheek against Chanyeol’s arm like a baby duck imprinting, wanting to physically be closer. 

“Why do you look familiar? Where did you guys meet?” Baekhyun forever blunt. 

Chanyeol most certainly didn’t expect his Sunday morning to be like this. He walks up to the front door once again, unlocking it. “Baekhyun, we can talk about this another time. Please can you just—“

“Strip club!” Baekhyun shrieks, recognition dawning on his face as he begins clicking his fingers together. “You’re that sexy dancer, right? The one that gave our Chanyeol a private dance! Yeol, you dog! I didn’t expect that from you! How long have you been hooking up with Channie?” 

Kai’s face remains impassive of any emotion, he doesn’t care for Baekhyun or his conversations. Instead, he turns to Chanyeol mutely, tilting his head like a small pup waiting for instructions. Chanyeol flashes Kai an apologetic smile before yanking Baekhyun by his wrist towards the door but Baekhyun maneuvers himself out of Chanyeol’s hold easily. 

“Me and Kai are nothing more than just friends, Baek,” Chanyeol argues, glancing back at Kai’s unmoving poker-face, a little taken back by how empty the boy seemed for a moment. “Kai, could you please explain that to him?” 

“I tried to fuck him plenty, but he doesn’t want me. Because of his stupid boyfriend,” Kai explains sharply. He wants to be with Chanyeol. Alone. “Can you fucking leave now?” 

“Kai!”  
“Feisty! I like him!”

“You said you’ll make me an omelet!” Kai snaps, his eyes narrowed in obvious vex at Baekhyun. He’s wasting precious time for Kai to spend with Chanyeol. 

Baekhyun’s smirk widens into a playful grin, this was interesting. How quickly the pink-headed stripper changed, was he jealous? Chanyeol wasn’t one to hide things from him, they were best friends so this was strange that the stripper that gave Chanyeol a private dance from a month ago is here right now. He’ll get Chanyeol to tell him everything later, it wasn’t hard to crack the lanky male.

“I’ll leave,” Baekhyun’s eyes glint in mischief walking up to the open front door, he looks back at Chanyeol. “And I will get all of the details fo this little moment, later.” 

Kai’s jaw is clenched but he doesn’t speak any further, he just wants Baekhyun gone. 

“There are no details because this wasn’t a moment!” Chanyeol whines throwing his head back in despair. 

“Sure,” Baekhyun hums unconvinced, blowing a kiss to both Chanyeol and Kai before stepping out of the apartment. Chanyeol lets out a sigh of relief watching his friend walk down the corridor, he’s about to close the door when he hears Baekhyun singing loudly. “I’m so telling Kyungsoo!” 

“Byun Baekhyun!” Chanyeol shouts, but he only receives laugher in return. 

Chanyeol closes the front door with a heave. It’s not even 10 and he’s beyond exhausted. He’ll call Baekhyun later to tell him to keep his mouth shut, knowing how the YouTuber is quick with gossip and quiet frankly Chanyeol doesn’t have the energy to explain. 

“I don’t like him.” 

Chanyeol can’t help but snort at Kai’s comment, walking into the kitchen with Kai hot on his tail. He needs to get to the bottom of whatever Kai seemed to be under whether it be stress or drugs or both. He’s already involved, and Kai was obviously delicate and surprisingly at times very child-like. 

“Do you want to help me?” Chanyeol asks softly, glancing at Kai who shakes his head. 

Chanyeol pulls out all of the ingredients needed for their omelets on the counter and turns on the stove into low-heat. Kai pushes the food on the counter to the side, and climbs on top instead, sitting right next to the stove, so he can have a better view. Chanyeol’s lips twitch upwards at the behavior, he didn’t expect Kai was this clingy, more than normal. 

“I’m like the master of omelets,” Chanyeol boasted playfully reaching over Kai’s legs to get the butter. “You’ll love it.”

Kai studied Chanyeol’s side profile in curiosity, why was he being so kind to Kai. They had no ties to force Chanyeol into such a position. Chanyeol was clearly not benefiting from Kai with the only way Kai knew how to repay, so why was Chanyeol being kind. Everything had a price, but Chanyeol was the first to decline the theory.

“Do you feel better?” Chanyeol’s all smiles, and Kai thinks it won’t take long for him to stop smiling when Kai can’t hold in his words any longer. “Your hair is still damp, you’ll get sick if you don’t get a towel and dry it now.” 

Kai isn’t sure if this is a dream or not, because Chanyeol hasn’t yelled at him for being rude to his friend, for attacking him last night, for crying, for anything really— when he deserves it. 

“Why do you care if I get sick or not?” Kai muttered, lacking faith that Chanyeol actually cared. Maybe this was a hallucination and he’s passed out on his studio floor. It happened before. 

“Because I’ll feel bad if you end up sick,” Chanyeol says softly, reaching over Kai to get the bowl with the eggs, setting them on the other side of the oven. “Least thing you can do is put on the hood over your head.” 

Kai wonders how long can he push Chanyeol to his limit before he kicks him out, it won’t take long he supposes since he’s never been good with people. “No.” 

Chanyeol simply reaches over tugging the hood over Kai’s head snuggly, then returns to cracking open the eggs in the buttered pan. 

“You’re so stubborn,” Chanyeol comments lightly, holding back his smile at Kai’s surprised expression. 

“Why are you doing this?”   
“Doing what?” 

Kai can’t keep the word-vomit he’s been trying to hold in all morning. “Treating me like a person.”

Chanyeol pauses from his stirring, tightening his grip on the chopsticks he’s holding. His face contorted with terrible aches at the remark. What possibility must have Kai been enduring and living through until this very moment to doubt Chanyeol and doubt himself so lowly? Frowning, Chanyeol turns to Kai who still cautious and Chanyeol flicks his forehead.

“Because you are a person,” Chanyeol answers fiercely, watching Kai rub his attacked forehead. 

“I don’t feel like one,” Kai whispers, staring at his swinging feet. “Most of the time I’m treated like a toy.”

“Is that why….yesterday you…”

“I’m not sure, doll!” Kai singsonged faking a wide smile, leaning back with the use of his arms. “I’m not good in the head, and I took too many shots and Vicodin.” 

Kai taps the side of his head for emphasis, his smile still tight around stiff cheeks, he knows Chanyeol will kick him out in a few seconds. Might as well confess, it isn’t like they’ll be in contact with one another for much longer when Chanyeol figures out Kai is unstable. 

“Sehunnie says it’s not good to mix alcohol and drugs but I like it, makes me hear my heartbeat more clearly in my mind. Reminds me that I’m breathing. Well, barely.”

“Oh, Kai…” Chanyeol held back a whimper, he doesn’t know what to do to make Kai feel better. 

“I once ate 10 Vicodins and drank an entire bottle of tequila and blacked out for 3 days.” Kai boasted, not liking the tone of Chanyeol’s voice he doesn’t want sympathy, any reaction but that. “But while I was blacked out, I went to work and shit. It was weird.” 

“Why do you do that to yourself? You don’t deserve to treat yourself like it.” The color draining from Chanyeol’s face as he turns to the dancer. “It’s dangerous, Kai!”

Kai’s smile slips in an instant, a scowl replacing it as he grabs a handful of Chanyeol’s collar pulling him close between his dangling legs, ignoring the sizzling of the food. 

“Who do you think you are telling me what I deserve?”

“I want to help you.” Chanyeol murmurs softly, their faces inches away and he can clearly see the conflict in Kai’s orbs. 

Kai blinked at the statement his grip loosening and barks out a loud laugh. “You have a savior-complex! Now, I get it. It makes sense!” 

It made Kai relax finally understanding Chanyeol’s behavior, he wondered why he was being treated with kindness, and he felt stupid for letting that idea pass over his head so easily. After all, plenty of customers in the strip-club would come in for a lap-dance after another every night and they always have their favorite dancers, Kai being the most popular and they’re the ones that tell him often—

“ _Oh Kai, I’m the one that gets to see you for real._ That’s what you’re gonna say next right?” Kai mocked his smile poisonous, unbothered about sadness clouded over Chanyeol’s features. “ _I’m going to help you get off the pole! I’ll help you stop doing drugs._ blah-blah-blah!“

“Why are you so afraid of someone being nice to you?” Chanyeol scolded outraged that Kai was so down the rabbit hole that he couldn’t fathom simple acts of kindness without them having repercussions.

“I told you since the beginning that I just wanted to be friends and now you’re acting like I’m some type of dickhead with a savior-complex because I don’t like seeing my friends hurt? Then so be it, call me a dickhead with a savior-complex!” 

“The only reason I said I’d be friends with you was to make you cheat on your boyfriend with _me_ so you can get it through your thick skull,” Kai snarls poking Chanyeol’s forehead, hard. Who does Chanyeol think he is, lying to him as if he’s some idiot. “That kindness will never get you far in life, just like how good guys always finish last in the race.” 

Chanyeol’s eyes double at the confession and he’s hurt, he can’t hide his emotions as easily as Kai. But he’ll prove Kai wrong, he’s proved him wrong this far. Chanyeol won’t forgive himself if he let Kai slip through his fingers without a fight. Then at least he can say he tried. 

“I won’t ever fuck you, touch you inappropriately, or expect any sexual favors just because I am being kind to you. I will treat you as a friend and you will treat me the same back.” Chanyeol utters with such determination that Kai can’t help but lean back startled by Chanyeol’s persistence. He would have expected to be dragged out of the apartment by now because of his self-exposure. His heart is beating fast, and he has to lie to himself that it isn’t because of Chanyeol’s words. “A _platonic_ friendship.” 

Kai slides his hands around Chanyeol’s neck pulling him, pressing his lips forcefully against Chanyeol’s; desperate and hungry all at once. Chanyeol however, pulls away instantly touching his bruised lips, staring in horror at Kai. 

“Why the hell did you do that?” 

Kai confirmed his suspicions with Chanyeol. Defeat and exhaustion wash all over him from the internal battle he’s been fighting the moment he’s woken up next to Chanyeol in bed, unharmed. That someone wanted to be his friend without the sexual benefits, just friends. Kai eyes Chanyeol for one last time and rests his head back against the cupboards close to tears. 

“To make sure,” Kai’s voice cracks and Chanyeol can see how broken Kai is. “you really don’t want me for my body.” 

“I do mean it.” Chanyeol finalized and Kai nods faintly staring at the ceiling, tucking his hands on his lap. “Kai, I do _mean it._ “

Kai hums, unable to look at Chanyeol any longer. His heart is swirling like a wild ocean trying to be tamed. “You’re my second friend.” 

Chanyeol schools his face from frowning at the saddening truth, he doesn’t want Kai to do something abrupt again. So, the office-worker returns to the browned eggs as if they didn’t have an intense moment merely a few seconds ago, and flips them over they were still edible, good thing he kept the heat on low. 

“Who’s your first?” 

Kai is staring into space but the corner of his lips curve upwards, his features softening at the thought. “Sehun. Sehunnie is my first friend. He’ll like you.” 

“Why do you think so?” Chanyeol chats, flashing in Kai’s direction a friendly smile but the latter is looking down at his lap. 

“Because you’re good,” Kai whispered, trying to make himself even smaller. He wasn’t used to letting his guard down so quickly, but Chanyeol promised him he’ll be his friend. 

“Yeah?” Chanyeol sprinkles the shredded cheese on top of the eggs. 

“Mm,” Kai confirmed, tearing his gaze away from his fidgeting hands to the pan. 

Chanyeol pulled out two plates and set them beside Kai, carefully placing the omelets each in their respective plate and sprinkled some shredded cheese on top. He opens one of his drawers, pulling the utensils and holds them out to Kai who looks up at him confused. 

“Set the table, I’ll get the food,” Chanyeol says, taking Kai’s hand in placing the metal utensils in. 

Kai hops off the counter, making his way to the dining table setting the forks and knives in place with shaky hands. The withdrawals of the drugs started, but Kai isn’t too bothered. He’ll get some when he goes to work because he can feel, there was no hollowness in his chest like before. 

“Here,” Chanyeol hands Kai two steaming mugs of tea while setting the omelets down on the table. “I added a little bit of milk and some alternative sugar that Junmyeon kept talking about since he’s vegan. Since you like your drinks sweet.”

Kai’s eyes turn glassy at the comment. “You remembered.”

“You don’t like it?” Chanyeol stands up in panic reaching over to take Kai’s mug but the dancer pushes his hand away. 

“No! I like it! Leave it!” Kai takes a big gulp of the hot liquid only to spit it back out. “Shit! I forgot it’s hot.” 

“Careful.” Chanyeol laughs lightly at Kai’s childish antics, settling himself back down on his seat and digs into his food. 

The pair ate in comfortable silence, with Kai glancing up at Chanyeol every few seconds warily while Chanyeol smiled at him each time. 

“I break down often,” Kai broke the silence, his eyes glued to his food unable to lift his gaze. “I’ve always had melt-downs ever since I was young, I don’t know how to handle them well. Yesterday was one.” 

Chanyeol lowers his fork and leans back giving Jongin his undivided attention. “Do you know what triggers them?” 

Kai shrugs, nibbling his bottom lip. He doesn’t know if he should talk about it or not. Chanyeol doesn’t rush him, instead he sips his tea and waits patiently watching Kai look around the table in thought until he lifts his gaze back to Chanyeol.

“Too many guys think I’m a concept or I make them feel alive,” Kai diving into a different topic, instead. “I’m not. I’m a-a person.” Kai looks away from Chanyeol’s orbs his cheeks tinted pink at Chanyeol’s earlier words.

Chanyeol nods his head encouragingly. “That’s a lot to handle on an every-day basis. Having to play out a fantasy. Mentally draining.”

“Yes,” Kai agrees with furrowed brows that Chanyeol can see his point. “And yesterday…yesterday I fought with Sehunnie and I was horrible to him and I shouldn’t have been but he was over-stepping!”

“Did he mean to over-step?” 

“Doesn’t matter! He knows to mind his business!” Kai ranted in frustration. 

Chanyeol crosses his legs to the side lazily, half-smiling at Kai’s behavior, his tone calm. “Intention is everything. If he intended to over-step then you can go and tell him to not do it again, but if he had good intentions I’m sure he only wanted what’s best for you.”

“Everybody fucking thinks they know what’s best for me.” Kai scoffed in disbelief crinkling his nose. 

“If your friends don’t try to do what’s best for you, then they aren’t your friends. They’re just using you.” Chanyeol explains lightly. 

Maybe Kai wanted to be used, he was using them too. Everybody uses everybody, that was the world they lived in. Nobody cares about anybody unless it benefited them in some shape or form. But Sehun was different, much like Chanyeol is being right now. It annoyed him to no end being told what to do, unused to being guided. 

“Whatever.” Kai tuts leaning back with a pout. 

Chanyeol has never seen someone look so childlike but walk around with heavy shoulders like Kai as if all of the world’s problems were on his back with no help. 

“So,” Chanyeol claps his hands together straightening his posture with a toothy grin plastered on his lips. “What is your review on the world’s best omelet?” 

A playful smile creeps on Kai’s lips and he leans in close to Chanyeol space, unable to control his flirty nature. After all, that’s all he’s ever been taught and encouraged throughout his childhood and adolescent years, it was embedded in him. Chanyeol leans back with caution and crosses his arms, eyeing Kai if he’s going to surprise him with another kiss or something equally touchy. 

“I loved it, so creamy.” Kai purred, swiping his index finger on the gooey cheese, sucking and swirling his tongue around his own finger not breaking eye-contact with Chanyeol who stands up flustered by the sultry action.

“Kai!” Chanyeol yelps trying to appear angry but he looked more panic-stricken than anything, causing the pink-head to laugh. 

“It’s fun teasing you.” Kai stood up with a smirk, pilling the plates and utensils together carrels heading to the sink. 

Chanyeol shakes his head with a huff. “Everyone teases me.” 

“It’s because you’re cute,” Kai confirms, turning to face a purse-lipped Chanyeol. “What? It’s true.” 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better at my expense.” Chanyeol side-eyes Kai who snorts and Chanyeol can’t help but snort along with him. 

Kai glances at the clock on the wall and freezes in his step, shifting his eyes to Chanyeol’s. “Can you walk me back to my place? It’s not far from here and I need to get my costumes for the club.” 

“Huh? Sure. Let me just change out of my pajamas.” Chanyeol runs off and Kai jogs after him but he enters the guest room instead, picking up his backpack. One of the club’s rules was to not wear repeated outfits twice in a row, so he couldn’t simply put on last night’s dancing outfit at the bottom of his bag. 

He likes Chanyeol, Kai concluded easily. He liked his floppy hair, and big ears, and stupid smile, and the way his words made Kai’s heartbeat with life. He shouldn’t though, he doesn’t deserve the office-worker but he’ll take it. Even if he makes it his mission to break Chanyeol and his stupid boyfriend up. The inner hyenas in his mind were laughing and mocking him, calls Kai an idiot for falling for anybody that gives him an ounce of attention, and Kai ignores the hurtful words in his mind. It’s true, he secretly agrees with his inner demons but he doesn’t care if he’ll look desperate. Everybody called him desperate, it doesn’t hurt anymore.

Even though he’s known Chanyeol for such a short amount of time, Chanyeol’s influence on his was strong, regardless if Kai was willing to admit it. Kai knows how easily he falls for people and how easily they break him, it’s been happening to him all of his life. So, it was inevitable for Chanyeol to break him at some point in the near future, because nobody wanted to hang around with Kai for his personality, even if Chanyeol told him otherwise. Kai’s body was his only way of finding validation, he’s learned since he was a kid. 

“You ready?” 

Kai snaps out of his trance, his eyes focusing in on Chanyeol standing in front of him in a black jacket and sweatpants combo. Kai nods his head, following Chanyeol out of the apartment taking in the unfamiliar building, they take the stairs since they’re only on the third floor. 

“And it’s good exercise.” Chanyeol further explains with a jest, pushing open the security doors letting the crisp air hit them harshly. “Oh god, it’s freezing.”

Kai glances down at his bare legs, Chanyeol’s shorts doing him no favors but his over-sized hoodie is surprisingly warm. Kai likes the cold because nobody likes it. Much like himself. 

Kai glances at Chanyeol before wrapping his arm around Chanyeol’s pressing himself against him. Chanyeol turns to him surprised ready to pull away but Kai clings on tighter, unbothered if he comes off as desperate. 

“I’m cold and you’re warm.” Kai gestures to his ill-fitted wear, not caring if he was being manipulative. He just wanted to be with Chanyeol, he made him feel good about himself. “Please?”

Chanyeol sighs, but doesn’t shrug Kai’s body off him. He wonders if Kai is doing this because he’s truly cold or is it for the same reason as last night when he tried to mount Chanyeol to share the bed. 

“I like myself better when I’m with you.” Kai murmurs quietly, regretting the words coming out of his mouth in an instant. 

Chanyeol blinks in surprise but he doesn’t want to make Kai feel weird about his impromptu confession, especially since the dancer looked more shocked than him. 

“You’re pretty cool though? Especially with your pink hair.” Chanyeol nods his head at the few strands peeking out of Kai’s hood. “I never really dyed my hair any crazy colors.” 

Kai tugs the hood further down, pressing his cheek against Chanyeol’s arm. He loved to touch Chanyeol in the most innocent forms, because his warmth would seep into Kai’s being, comforting him without ever opening his mouth. Maybe that’s what attracted Kai to him so much, comfort and security. 

“Let me dye your hair,” Kai recommended, guiding Chanyeol to cross the road as they near the end of the street. “I’m really good at it, and you’ll probably look good in any color.”

Chanyeol chuckles at the thought, and Kai lets himself feel the vibrations between his fingers. “I don’t know about any color.”

Kai looks up at Chanyeol, his eyes flickering in exhilaration. “You’ll let me dye it?!”

“I’m not sure if I can, especially with the company policy,” Chanyeol answers apologetically, trying to not laugh at Kai’s kicked-puppy impression. “Sorry, to disappoint.” 

“I’m going to dye my hair platinum-white tomorrow,” Kai hums, pausing at they come to the intersection of the street waiting for the street-light to turn green. “White for a fresh start, that’s why.”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen at the location. “Wait a minute! You live on Daehak-ro as well? Just on th-the opposite side of the block?” 

“I suppose? Only difference is that I live on the rough side while you’re in the affluent part.” Kai gestured casually. 

“What a small world we live in, who would have thought?” Chanyeol was dumbfounded by this revelation. “I’ve never been to this part Daehak-ro.” 

“Why are you saying it as if it’s a bad thing?” Kai remarked, wondering if they look like a couple to strangers and he prays they do. “It’s good that you haven’t been here. It’s shit.”

“I feel like I should’ve explored my neighborhood better, maybe we would’ve met before and become friends sooner!” Chanyeol looks around the boarded apartments, the dirtied street with a few seedy looking men huddled in groups and the few mothers pushing their cramps in haste. 

“You’re far too optimistic, has anyone told you that?” Kai tuts, forcing him to pull away from Chanyeol as he stops outside his own apartment complex, a much beaten-down version of Chanyeol’s. 

“Nothing wrong with a little positivity.” Chanyeol appealed only to receive an eye roll. “This is you?”

“This is me,” Kai confirms, stuffing his hands into the hood’s pocket. “Well, thanks for walking me here.”

Chanyeol crosses his arms around himself to keep warm as he nods. “More than happy to help. Just be careful, okay?” 

Kai’s lips spread into a sick smile, “Being on edge is fun. The danger is fun.” 

Chanyeol frowns instantly, causing Kai to clap in amusement. Kai takes two-step forward towards the lanky male, tilting his head up slightly. “What? I don’t get a farewell kiss? Or do you save that only for your boyfriend, sweetheart?” 

Chanyeol pulls Kai’s hood over his eyes, causing the latter to curse at the silly antics.

“What was that—oh.” Kai stills at Chanyeol wrapping his arms around him. Kai didn’t expect a hug at all. However he cherishes it dearly, and before he can melt into Chanyeol’s embrace, the warmth is gone. 

“I will be pestering you non-stop now, you realize that right?” Chanyeol beamed and Kai can do nothing but nod his head dumbly, too struck by Chanyeol. 

“What are you my guardian angel now?” Kai snorted, trying to not touch his reddened cheeks. 

“Have a good day!” Chanyeol answered instead. And without waiting for a reply, Chanyeol turns on his heels and walks off his arm high in the air as a farewell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you ever wanna chat or are too shy to comment on here this is my twitter is:@GlazedDounut72
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> I'm not asking for a full book report (although that would be MARVELOUS) I'm just asking to be paid with your thoughts, opinions, and feedback.
> 
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.


	7. Assumptions, Assumptions, Assumptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ♥11.8K♥ chapter for you guys being so patient with me, after all, I've started my summer courses + I work part-time so I don't have as much free time as I did. 
> 
> I also want to thank every single person who took the time to write their sweet and kind comments and gave kudos! I really appreciate you! I am so lucky to have readers who are actively engaged with the story and pour their hearts out. I legit take screenshots of them and save them in an album dedicated to comments, and re-read them for motivation and moral support. So thank you. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ♡

Kai stands impatiently in the dressing room of the strip club, waiting for Sehun to arrive. He hated fighting with Sehun, it just spoiled his entire mood. Sehun didn’t come into work yesterday, and Kai can only blame himself. He shouldn’t have been so cruel with his words, knowing how sensitive the topic was for Sehun, unrequited love is always tough. He’s had his fair share of them growing up. Kai tended to go haywire when narcotics are involved, and along with the sexual assault he had in the private room that day was a messy clash. It’s his fault, he must have been asking for it, Kai thought. 

“What’s taking him so long…” Kai muttered, turning to the mirror for a moment fixing his freshly dyed platinum-white curls. 

The door opens and Kai turns around so quickly he stumbles, ready to greet Sehun. But Sehun isn’t alone, he’s with the new kid, Ravi chatting merrily. It irked Kai instantly.

They lock eyes, but neither say anything. Sehun is the first to look away, dumping his bag next to Ravi’s dresser instead of his usual space beside Kai. He’s definitely still mad, Kai concluded.

“Oh, h-hello Kai!” Ravi acknowledged with a nervous smile. Kai intimidated him very much, and he unconsciously flinched when Kai stormed over towards them and yanked Sehun’s bag and placed it beside his own. 

“Hey! Give it back!” Sehun glared, grabbing his bag but Kai stops him. 

“I’m sorry!” Kai snapped. He’s never been good with expressing his feelings, that much was obvious. “Okay? I said it! I apologized for fuck-sake!” 

Sehun pauses surprised by the apology but he won’t yield this easily. Kai needed to learn his lesson, so Sehun scoffs and doesn’t answer him. He opens up his bag instead, not bothering to move from Kai’s side. 

Kai unconsciously wraps his arms around himself, letting the comforting smell of Chanyeol calm him down. He hasn’t returned Chanyeol’s hoodie since yesterday when he slept over and he definitely won’t, it was soft — and Chanyeol’s. 

Sehun glances at Ravi’s stiff figure in the mirror, knowing the poor boy is quaking in his shoes at their Cold War of a fight. So, he turns around to the newbie with a sigh. “I’ll meet you on the stage, okay?” 

“Okay!” Ravi nods his head, yanking off his shirt to reveal his costume and rushes out. 

Sehun takes off his slacks, to reveal his outfit that consisted of a cropped football jersey top and black latex boxers, going for a more sporty-look pretending that Kai isn’t even beside him. 

Kai huffs at Sehun’s attitude, so he swipes Sehun’s makeup bag trying to erupt a reaction out of Sehun, anything. He hated being ignored. But Sehun doesn’t waver, he rummages through his bag, occupying himself with brushing his hair instead. Kai doesn’t handle the passive-aggressive actions all that well, thus in a childish manner, Kai growls, throwing Sehun’s makeup bag at him defeated. 

“Well then don’t ignore me!” Kai demanded leaning against the wall, scowling at Sehun. “I don’t like it!”

Sehun snaps his head to Kai with narrowed eyes. “Well, you should have thought about that, before being a total dickhead!” 

Kai looks away flustered, he can’t stand Sehun being mad at him. The one person who’s been with him through the worst highlights of his life, and still is. Kai isn’t sure what he’d do if Sehun cut ties with him, he wouldn’t blame him for a start. He’d deserve it. 

“Please don’t be angry, I hate it when you’re angry…” Kai murmured his bravado immediately deflating, as he watches with a frown Sehun apply his gloss.

Sehun glances at Kai through the mirror before continuing to put on his lipgloss. He knows how Kai’s frame of mind is easily swayed, his mood swings were no joke and Sehun was often the one that got the burned, short end of the stick. He didn’t mind, he knew Kai has a hard time controlling himself. Being kind to himself. 

“I’m not.” Sehun sighs, unable to be tough on Kai any longer. He didn’t like fighting with Kai, it’s just challenging sometimes to always the responsible one. 

“Forget it.” Kai scoffs in disbelief turning around as he stalks to his side, rummaging through his bag to put on his elbow-high laced gloves. 

Sehun gapes at Kai’s sulking behaviour. “I’m not!” 

Kai glances at Sehun with an evident pout and a scrunched nose, trying to study his facial expressions. “You look mad…” 

Sehun snorts at the accusation, tossing his gloss in his makeup bag and stretching an arm open for Kai to take. “I’m not mad anymore, I’m just tired.” 

Kai doesn’t take Sehun’s arm, instead, he attacks him with a tight bear hug breathing in Sehun’s familiar scent of baby powder and lavender. He promises to never upset Sehun again, he doesn’t like how tight his chest was a few moments ago. 

“A voluntary hug? Am I talking to the right Kai?” Sehun teased patting Kai’s back, getting released and pushed back. He can spot the light blush on Kai’s cheeks and he wants nothing more than to pinch them. 

Kai rolls his eyes and flashes him a middle finger but there was a small smile on his lips now. Sehun is the only consistent and good thing in his life now, but he backpedals to last night and Chanyeol’s smiling face invades his mind. Two good things in his life, he self-corrects. 

“So, what’s the story behind the new hair?” Sehun asks watching Kai take off his hoodie consequently messed up hair.

Kai ruffles his hair into decency or somewhat close to it, packing Chanyeol’s hoodie into his bag not wanting it to be stolen. The clothing far too precious for him. “Fresh start.” 

(—————)

Park Chanyeol couldn’t be more excited to meet up with Junmyeon, it’s their 5th month anniversary tonight, and he got out of work early to spend even more time with Junmyeon. Their work hours are forever inconsistent even though both of them work in companies. Chanyeol blames Junmyeon’s over-ambition, always taking on more projects than he can handle causing him to stay in the office until late, but Chanyeol understands how the entertainment business is difficult. 

This is why most nights Chanyeol spends them alone, he talked to Junmyeon about their lack of presence in the relationship, with Chanyeol always maneuvering his schedule to suit Junmyeon’s. And his boyfriend’s answer to this problem was to give him the spare key to his home, but it’s awkward and unhelpful for Chanyeol, since Junmyeon barely ever comes back. 

But Chanyeol is far too excited to dwell on problematic things currently. He’s can’t stop smiling at imagining Junmyeon’s surprised face when he opens up his gift. Chanyeol even waited in line for two hours to buy a dozen vegan cupcakes from the bakery that Junmyeon is obsessed with. 

Finally arriving at Junmyeon’s apartment, he lowers the dessert on the ground to pull out the spare key. Unlocking the door, he already can hear the television running and his smile widens again. In haste to not lose the momentum, he picks up the cupcakes and lets himself in, about to scream a sappy declaration of love but the words get stuck in his throat by what he witnesses. 

There sat on the couch were Junmyeon and another man cuddling next to one another, too absorbed in some movie. Junmyeon was laying on top of the man his head rested on his chest, their legs tangled. Like how Chanyeol and Junmyeon would cuddle up. 

“Junmyeon?” Chanyeol calls out dumbly, panic wavering his voice.

The entertainment agent turns around lazily and smiles at Chanyeol as if nothing is wrong. “You’re here already?”

The man beside Junmyeon sits up, casually greeting Chanyeol. As if Chanyeol is the stranger, not the other way around. Chanyeol knows he looks idiotic holding onto a balloon and a gift bag in one hand, while the other was holding the box of cupcakes. He feels it too. 

Junmyeon walking up to Chanyeol pecking his lips finally takes notice of the familiar cupcake box taking it out of his boyfriend’s hand. “What’s all of this? You didn’t! Yeolie!” 

Chanyeol blinks unmoving, his eyes glued to the stranger. “Who’s this?” 

“Oh, I’m Sungwoo.” 

“Oh really? Well then, _Sungwoo_ please do tell me what the hell are you doing with my boyfriend alone?” Chanyeol spits out, his mind is already reeling into too many theories and all of them are echoing into his mind with his friends' voices. _We told you so,_ they chanted.

“Chanyeol!” Junmyeon scolds, rushing to Sungwoo who already stood up his face red from embarrassment. 

Chanyeol shifts his glare to his boyfriend. “Are you serious? It’s our 5th month anniversary, I leave work early and this is what I find?” 

“Ignore him please,” Junmyeon apologizes on behalf of Chanyeol once more to his friend, patting his back. “You better not be accusing me of what I think you’re accusing me of, Chanyeol!” 

“I should go..” Sungwoo trails off awkwardly inching towards the door, hearing Chanyeol scoff. 

“You think?” Chanyeol mocked, tossing the gift bag on the coffee table, as the balloon floats away. 

Sungwoo makes a quick beeline to the cupcake box, taking one before running off out of the door. Chanyeol closes the front door with a slam, turning to his boyfriend his face sour but Junmyeon isn’t backing down. He stood with his shoulders squared and chin raised high. 

“What the hell was that!” Junmyeon shouts outrage, startling Chanyeol. 

Why was he being angry, Chanyeol is the one that should be yelling not his boyfriend, he thought. 

“What?!” 

“You heard me, Park!” Junmyeon snarled taking a step forward, poking Chanyeol in the chest hard. “You embarrassed me in front of my friend! You told me you weren’t coming until 10:30, it just turned 8 in the evening.”

“Excuse me and that’s my fault because what exactly? I caught you trying to two-time me with someone else?” Chanyeol stared swatting away Junmyeon’s hand. “I left work early to surprise you!” 

“Two-time you? Are you serious right now? Why do you always think the worst of me?” 

“It’s not like you’ve done anything to reassure me otherwise.” Chanyeol defended, why does this always happen to him, whenever he opens his heart. Always made to be the fool. 

Junmyeon lets out an empty laugh, throwing his head back. “Reassure you? How insecure do you have to be that I can’t even have friends over.” 

“That’s not how you treat your friends! Y-You might as well have been fucking with how close your dicks were!” Chanyeol was sure there was smoke coming out his ears by now. He’s always the one getting humiliated, why do his relationships never end happily. 

Junmyeon eyes his boyfriend up and down with obvious hostility and Chanyeol can’t help but shift under his intimidating gaze. 

“Just because you and your friends aren’t close like my friends and I, doesn’t mean I’m going around fucking all of them. Is that how low you think of me?” 

“I—“

“You’re always trying to control me! _’Junmyeon are you free, let’s eat lunch together, can’t you just try to leave work early, I stayed up waiting for you, why are you cancelling on me again?_ Sorry I have a life that doesn’t revolve around your paranoid ass 24/7.” Junmyeon hisses with intent to hurt, and Chanyeol stumbles back feeling the poisonous words seep into his pores. “Your problem is that you’re always trying to find some type of flaw on me, so you can feel better about yourself.” 

“That’s not what I was trying to do,” Chanyeol's voice is small, questioning over his judgment of the situation. “You never make time for me, it’s just—I, Junmyeon…you never make time for me anymore, is it…so wrong of me for wanting to spend time with my boyfriend?” 

“God, you’re too sensitive.” Junmyeon spat walking over to the cupcakes, not bothering to even look at Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol stood there second-guessing himself, he didn’t understand why he was the one characterized as the villain when he had just seen his boyfriend in the arms of another man. He doesn’t trust his own words, afraid of angering Junmyeon further. Was he being too sensitive? He wasn’t trying to over-react. 

“You…” Chanyeol pauses, internally editing his words before speaking worried about having them misconstrued in a negative way by Junmyeon. Like usual. “It feels like you never bother with me anymore like I’m not your…first priority.” 

Junmyeon raises his brows clearly amused by the statement, and Chanyeol knew he said something wrong, again. 

“Do you hear yourself, Channie?” Junmyeon taps the side of his head for emphasis and Chanyeol feels utterly inadequate next to Junmyeon. “Just because I love my job, and you don’t doesn’t mean I’m the one in the wrong. I told you how important my work is to me, and you said that you understand that, so why are you acting dumb for now? Do you not get it?” 

Chanyeol resents himself at how quickly he’s willing to back down from this fight, he wants to scream at how unfair Junmyeon is being. Chanyeol is the one that always compromises, and yet here he stood defeated. Is he being too controlling in trying to find time to spend with his boyfriend? Chanyeol hated how he always had to fight for his boyfriend’s attention. 

“I’m not acting dumb, it’s just—“

“Just what? You’re afraid that I’ll get bored of you and toss you to the side?” Junmyeon rolls his eyes, walking up to Chanyeol. “Sungwoo is just a good friend of mine, stop with all the mind games. Do I have to keep babying you every time you don’t like something that I do?”

Chanyeol avoids holding his boyfriend’s gaze, red hot shame burning the tips of his ears. “No…” 

“That’s right, so after you finished your little attention-seeking tantrum we can finally move on,” Junmyeon coos in a condescending manner, patting Chanyeol’s cheek. “and never speak of this again. It’s tiresome, Yeolie.” 

“Sorry…” Chanyeol whispers with a heavy breath, his eyes focused on the wall totally humiliated. 

Junmyeon nods his head in approval, holding Chanyeol’s arm pulling towards the couch. “Come on then, let’s open our gifts, then I’ll order in dinner.” 

(—————)

Jongdae usually spends his lunch hour with Chanyeol since they’re co-workers, eating somewhere near-by or sharing the leftovers Kyungsoo has cooked the night before. But his typical flow was broken today, because of Byun Baekhyun. Jongdae stood outside in the windy weather alone, waiting for his close friend to arrive. Jongdae thinks back to their phone-call this morning. 

_  
“You need to answer your phone faster!” Was the first thing Baekhyun shouted when Jongdae picked up his phone._

_“Morning, I’m on my way to work.” Jongdae greeted him instead, checking his watch._

_“That is perfect, skip today!”_

_Jongdae winces at how shrilling Baekhyun’s voice is, he’s rather not got a headache before coming in to work. “This isn’t high school, Baek.”_

_Baekhyun tuts in disapproval. “What? You never lied about being sick? Just call in saying you got to like the flu or something!”_

_Jongdae laughs, thinking back to his own high school days. “My mother would beat my ass about faking sick, she’ll drag me there sick or not. And FYI, the flu isn’t something you get over in a day.”_

_“But I need you right now!” Baekhyun shouted and Jongdae has to pull the phone away, as he crosses the road. “This is of national importance!”_

_“If it’s so important why aren’t you calling Kyungsoo about it? He already left.” Jongdae teased. Everybody including Kyungsoo himself knew about Baekhyun’s feelings for him._

_“I can’t tell Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun shout-whispers into the phone and Jongdae laughs. “He might kill me, and I’d rather not die before I can kiss him.”_

_“He’s still rejecting you, huh?”  
“I’m working on it!” _

_Jongdae knows for a fact if he could see Baekhyun’s right now he’d be a flustered mess. He found it endearing and sweet, at how determined Baekhyun was to make Kyungsoo his even though he’s considered to be an influential YouTube star that could if he wanted, have anybody._

_“Anyway, we need to meet,” Baekhyun stated after clearing his throat._

_“What’s in it for me?” Jongdae was already willing, he would love to take a day off work to do whatever shenanigans Baekhyun was up to. After all, it isn’t like Jongdae has much going for him nowadays. He smiles to himself at his current predicament, he was a 23-year-old, living with one of his best friend’s and is single. There was nothing wrong with this, nothing at all. He just needed some spice._

_Baekhyun’s loud scoff is clear in the speaker, and Jongdae laughs harder. “The pride of knowing you saved—“_

_“I’m hanging up.” Jongdae singsonged._

_“You little shit! I’ll pay for lunch for the next week!” Baekhyun said in a rushed manner, hoping the line was still connected and it was because he can hear Jongdae’s annoying snort._

_“So, hypothetically speaking let us say I said yes, what is the national importance?”_

_“I can’t say it over the phone. This needs to be said in person.” Baekhyun declined._

_Jongdae pauses in his step, staring ahead at the busy pavement of the Main Street that was filled with dozens of men and women heading to work. Fuck it, he thought. “Pick me up at 12, I get a free hour then.”_

_“You got it!” Baekhyun yelled excited, finally, he has recruited an accomplice. “Oh, and don’t tell Chanyeol! He can’t find out!”_

_“Two weeks of paid lunch.”  
“Fiinneee!”  
_

The car honking in front of him indicated the arrival of his best friend, Jongdae waves at Baekhyun and heads to the car, entering it.

“Jongdae! Get in! We’re burning daylight!” Baekhyun shouted through the rolled window.

Jongdae lied to Chanyeol saying he needed to go to the bank, and Chanyeol being the sweetheart he was said he’ll come with but Jongdae shot him down. Adding to the lie that he’s meeting his mother at the bank, to help her out with her banking. 

“And he believed you?” Baekhyun gaped at Jongdae waiting for him to put on his seat belt. 

“I thought he caught me, but yeah he believed me.” Jongdae nods his head, after giving Baekhyun the recap of getting rid of Chanyeol. 

Baekhyun steps on the gas, and Jongdae grabs hold of the door and dashboard grimacing. He forgot that Baekhyun is a reckless driver, maybe he doesn’t want a little spice in his life anymore if that meant losing it. 

“So are you going to tell me what this emergency is before we crash and die?” 

Baekhyun’s eyes sparkle with mischief. “Fuck yeah! Listen, I went to Chanyeol’s like two days ago to pick what I’m going to wear when I go on a date with Kyungsoo—“

“Kyungsoo said it was definitely a ‘no-date date’ if anything he called it ‘talking-shit-about-Junmyeon’ with no strings attached,” Jongdae interrupted cheekily, turning to Baekhyun with a Cheshire-like grin. Baekhyun tightens his hold on the steering wheel, taking a sharp turn with purpose. “Just two friends—Ah!” 

Baekhyun smirks in satisfaction hearing Jongdae’s head collides with the side of the car. Serves Jongdae right for teasing him.

“Slow down!” 

“Like I was saying! I went to his place in the morning and Chanyeol just woke up obviously. But something was off about him like he was hiding something because he kept trying to drag me out of his apartment!” Baekhyun explained animately, waving his hands in the air letting go fo the steering wheel for a moment. “That something turned out to be a someone, a guy! A fucking hot guy! He was wearing Chanyeol’s clothes and his hair was wet, so he just finished showering?! Jongdae, I mean come on!” 

“Maybe he’s a friend?” Jongdae suggested rubbing the side of his head, hoping the bump won’t swell up. “Everybody knows how much you hate Junmyeon, you can’t even stand being in the same room as him. Just because Chanyeol had a friend sleeping over doesn’t mean anything.”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “I knew you’d say something like this.”

“Don’t make me laugh, Baek. Chanyeol isn’t the type to cheat. So what if he had someone over?” 

“Let me finish!” Baekhyun takes a turn, and then another before entering another Main Street. “This someone happens to be the stripper you hired for his birthday! The one that took him to a private room? Remember?” 

Jongdae’s eyes double, he knows exactly which stripper Baekhyun is talking about. “K-Kai? The one with blue hair, right?” 

Baekhyun claps his hands in approval causing Jongdae to grab the wheel for a second so they don’t swerve into the pavement. “Yes! Kai! Wait, blue hair? The guy had pink hair, though? It doesn’t matter! I literally asked how long they’ve been fucking—“

“It’s very uncharacteristic of Chanyeol,” Jongdae hums in thought, thinking back to the night that Chanyeol ran off with the familiar blue-head when they worked over-time, matching up the scenarios of then and now. “Are you sure it was him?” 

“The stripper literally said I tried to fuck him plenty! But Chanyeol didn’t want it because he has Junmyeon! Can you believe this?” Baekhyun screeched in outrage, hitting his steering wheel. If there was an anti-club dedicated to Junmyeon, Baekhyun will most definitely be the president. 

“If it really was Kai like you said it was,”  
“It is!”  
“And he tried to fuck him multiple times,”  
“He did!”  
“Then, they must have met up more than once,” 

“They must have!” Baekhyun shrieked practically bouncing in his seat as he veered to the left, taking the fast lane and pressing on the accelerator. “This is why I chose you! My fellow conspirator! My partner-in-crime! My henchman! My accomplice!“ 

“Wait, what are we doing?” Jongdae’s grin slips off his face. “What do you mean, ‘chose me’?” 

Baekhyun’s lips curl into a wicked smirk, whizzing in between the lunch-time traffic trying to save time. “We need to investigate, partner! Y’know how Chanyeol is, he can’t help but be nice. And for all I know —even though I am vouching for the stripper more than Junmyeon to be with Chanyeol or anyone but Junmyeon to be honest. Maybe the stripper can be like a stepping stone? A rebound? Friends with benefits? I know Chanyeol tends to be faint-hearted, so having a stripper boyfriend might be too much to handle for Chanyeol—“

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae scolds, wanting the endless rambling to stop. 

“I don’t want Chanyeol to be scammed.” Baekhyun blurs out, glancing at Jongdae in deep thought. “He’s been in shitty relationships all his life, and the poor guy needs a break.” 

“Scammed?” Jongdae repeated in confusion, before narrowing his eyes at Baekhyun finally understanding the situation. “Baekhyun, please tell me this isn’t what I think it is…” 

“A lot of strippers, gigolos, escorts, prostitutes, whatever you wanna call them are scammers. Maybe this Kai is trying to take money from Chanyeol?” 

“Isn’t that kind of stereotypical to say? They aren’t all the same, it’s different professions, same field?” Jongdae pulls a face at the statement but Baekhyun can only shrug. 

“I didn’t say all of them!” Baekhyun defends, almost running a red light but he stops at the last second and Jongdae gives a silent prayer to whoever invented seatbelts. “That guy is far too hot to be just a stripper! Maybe he’s a sugar baby on the down-low?” 

“But you don’t know if any of this is true!” Jongdae exclaimed, staring in bewilderment at the side of his friend’s face. “You can’t just, like, assume!” 

“Exactly!” Baekhyun slams both his palms on the steering wheel with a firm nod, turning to face Jongdae since they’re at a stoplight. “This is why we are investigating! Keep up, Dae!”

“Just amuse me for a second,” Jongdae began waving his hand in the air as the light turns green. “How exactly are we going to investigate?” 

Baekhyun laughs in delight, entering a smaller street slowing down as he enters a car park. “By spying and gathering intel! After that, we need to take a vote because today’s mission could turn into a mess. I’m not sure if plan B is better than H.” 

“How many plans do you have?” Jongdae stares with an open mouth, as the car comes to a complete stop. He takes a quick scan of the new surrounding, the strip-club in the daylight looked much more grim and bleak without its neon lights and the dark concealing its cheaply done exterior. “No, no, no!”

Baekhyun unbuckles his seatbelt, then Jongdae’s who slaps his hand away in a fruitless effort. “Hear me out, we just go in and ask about this Kai, and gather some information. A quick in-and-out mission.”

“We look like a couple of seedy men coming to a strip club in the middle of the fucking day, Baekhyun!” Jongdae complained, but it fell on deaf ears as Baekhyun fumbles with a bag in the back seat. “Are you even listening to me? What if someone from work spots me and then I’ll be labelled as a pervert and my entire work reputation will get ruined before it even has begun!” 

“You’re at an 11 and I need you at a solid 4.” Baekhyun throws at Jongdae a cap and a black windbreaker jacket. “I took obvious precautions, I’m famous too bitch.” 

“Famous my ass,” Jongdae grumbled, taking off his work ID from his neck tossing it in the cupholder as he puts on the jacket. “You’re viewer demographic can’t even enter a strip club.” 

Baekhyun puts on his own cap and jacket, finally stepping out of his car. “This is for the cause! You’re in disguise, you can’t back out now!” 

Jongdae closes the car door with a huff, falling into step with Baekhyun as they inch towards the club. 

“Just for your information, if someone from work saw you in the strip club, they won’t say anything because they themselves are in the strip club as well. They aren’t trying to expose themselves. Duh!” 

Jongdae smiles at the bodyguard stationed by the entrance ready to pull out his ID, but the guard lets them in after a bored glance, and Jongdae can’t help but let out a sigh he’s been holding. He wanted some spice, and this was it. Might as well embrace this so-called mission for love. 

“I already know too much, fuck it.” Jongdae whispered.

Baekhyun grinned at him slapping his arm. “That’s what I am talking about!” 

The club wasn’t packed like the night of Chanyeol’s birthday, but it looked all the same. Jongdae lets himself get dragged by Baekhyun around the spacious club. The fog from the smoke machines concealed the ground completely, whirling in a fusion of colours due to the multicoloured lasers and lights beaming from above. The red leather couches scattered across the club had only a few people seated, each with their appointed stage, pole, and dancer. 

“Wait, how are you planning to talk to Kai? Just hope he’s here? What if it isn’t his shift?” Jongdae quizzed, as they head straight for the bar. 

Baekhyun leans in. “I have made an entire script, don’t worry.” 

“Where is it?” Jongdae whispered with furrowed brows. “We need to rehearse.” 

“In here,” Baekhyun taps his head and Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry, worst case scenario we improvise! We’re good at improvising, remember that improv class we took last year?” 

“You mean the one that you forced me to take so you can have some content on your YouTube channel?”

Baekhyun scoffs, pausing in his step before continuing to pull Jongdae along. “Good thing I forced you then, you have an acting background now.” 

The bar only had one another man sat in the far corner, smoking and reading his newspaper and Jongdae wonders what went so wrong for him to spend his afternoon here. But Baekhyun shakes him back into their current situation, and within a few steps the pair stood by the bar in front one of the workers. 

“Hello, welcome to Exodus, my name is Minseok,” The bartender greeted and Jongdae is so taken back by how beautiful his smile was. Holy shit. “What can I get you?” 

“Your number.” Jongdae muttered under his breath, glad nobody heard him make a fool of himself. 

Baekhyun glances at Jongdae before puffing out his shoulders, lowering his cap further trying to not draw unwanted attention to them. But the pair looked the most suspicious with their matching gear-up. 

“We want to get a private room with Kai,” Baekhyun stated pursing his lips in an act of smouldering, leaning against the bar while Jongdae perched his arm around it. “Money isn’t a problem, do you take card or cash?” 

If Minseok is suspicious of them he doesn’t let on, instead he smiles politely at them. “Kai is currently busy doing a private room.” 

“When will he be done?” Baekhyun asks, letting himself take a seat and Jongdae follows in suit. 

Minseok glances at the electronic clock, and then at some thick pad filled with scratchy writing. “15 minutes or so, you will be his third room today. Would you like to pay now or when the time comes?” 

Baekhyun raises his brows at Jongdae and winks, mouthing ’improv classes’ before turning to the bartender. “We’ll pay when the time comes.” 

“What would you like to drink while you wait, gentlemen?” Minseok insisted, readjusting his tie. “At Exodus, you’re required to order every 30 minutes.”

Baekhyun blinks, before turning to Jongdae. “I can’t drink, I’m driving..” 

Jongdae flashes him a dirty look. “I have work in 45 minutes.” 

“One of us has to sacrifice,” Baekhyun held out two fingers at Minseok. “My friend will have two beers, for the two of us.” 

“Ya!” Jongdae hissed pushing Baekhyun. “I’m not going back to work drunk!” 

“You won’t get back to work, if we both drink! Take one for the team!”  
“I’m losing faith in this team! It’s more of a dictatorship!” 

Minseok covers his mouth to hide his laughter, they were amusing. “Sirs, we offer non-alcoholic drinks.” 

“See? Problem solved,” Baekhyun clapped, avoiding Jongdae’s thundering gaze. “We’ll just have two cranberry juices with soda and a hint of lime.” 

“Coming right up.” Minseok nods, getting to work immediately. 

Jongdae leans into Baekhyun’s ear. “And a hint of lime? Couldn’t have been more suspicious if we wanted.” 

“We’re blending in nicely, if we said water he’ll catch on we want something particular from Kai.” 

“I want my free lunches to be from an expensive restaurant.” Jongdae’s eyes are glued to Minseok pouring their drinks. 

Before the pair can break out into another catfight, Minseok places their drinks in front of them. Baekhyun holds out his credit card, letting Minseok swipe in the transaction. Jongdae takes a sip of the cocktail and hums in approval. 

“This is really good,” Jongdae complimented, resting his chin on his hand. “This must mean you’ve been a bartender for quite some time, right?”

Minseok picks up on of the stacked glasses, tugging the small rag from his shoulder to clean it. “Ah, yes! This is my 2nd year actually.” 

“Oh really? You must enjoy it.” Jongdae noted, ignoring Baekhyun’s incredulous expression beside him. He might as well kill time by flirting with the bartender. “You must’ve taken mixology training if you’re this good.” 

Minseok shakes his head with a small laugh, and Baekhyun watches the sudden K-Drama unfold before his very eyes. He slips his hand on Jongdae’s thigh and pinches him out of spite. Jongdae flinches but keeps his composure, pinching Baekhyun back who lets out a startled yelp. 

“Minseokie!” A fourth participant enters the zone, causing both Jongdae and Baekhyun to elbow one another under the bar. 

The fourth participant was obviously a stripper by the way he’s dressed. His body was toned nicely, shimmering in body glitter. He was wearing a cropped football jersey showing his abdominal area, matching it with black latex boxers hugging him nicely. He even had matching head and wrist sweatbands to complete the look. He was gorgeous, why is everyone at this club so good-looking, Jongdae wondered. 

“Hey Sehun-ah,” Minseok greeted warmly, pulling out the pad from earlier opening it to a different page. “So what did you decide today?”

“I’ll have the buffalo wings and onion rings, and Kai wants the lemon and pepper chicken tenders with fries,” Sehun ordered their lunch, raising his head to peek at Minseok writing down their food. 

Baekhyun and Jongdae face each other in slow-motion with wide eyes, telepathically communicating that Sehun knew the Kai they want. Jongdae points at Baekhyun with his chin to ask Sehun, and Baekhyun points to himself surprised. 

Sehun can hear the obvious fussing beside him, however, he keeps his eyes on Minseok’s hand. He just finished a lap dance and though he could squeeze in his and Kai’s daily lunch orders, they were one of the most popular dancers in the club regardless if it was packed or not. 

“Here you go.” Minseok slides down the receipt on the bar, sliding it over to Sehun who tucks it in his boxers. “You’ll pick them up or should I bring them to the dressing room?” 

Sehun smiles sweetly at the bartender, shaking his hand. “I’ll pick them up, and I already paid Minho earlier for the both of us.” 

Sehun spins on the back of his heel ready to take on one of the stages but Baekhyun and Jongdae tell him not to leave. He keeps his face neutral, Sehun doesn’t like the customers that stay by the bar. They hardly tipped, and all they wanted to be someone to vent to and Sehun was mentally drained, he has no energy for this. He’d rather go dance. 

“Did you call for me, baby?” Sehun flashed them a fake smile, one hand on his hip. He has to keep the customer happy, regardless of his own mood. 

“Hi, yes, I—wow,” Baekhyun slips out, taking in Sehun’s glowing face up close. His eyelids were tinted in sliver, lashes coated with light mascara and two black and blue lines on each cheek were painted on to resemble a football fan. 

Jongdae pokes Baekhyun in his sides, stopping him from getting side-tracked. He doesn’t blame him though. Baekhyun clears his throat, as Sehun blinks at them in feigned innocence. 

“We wanted to ask if you know Kai.”

Sehun doesn’t reply, his previous relaxed expression has tightened, eyeing them up and down with caution. Jongdae wants to hit Baekhyun for being so obvious with their intentions to investigate, for someone so confident Baekhyun sure is terrible at improv.

“We aren’t bad people,” Baekhyun reassures but that only makes Sehun smile at them icily. 

“That’s what bad people usually say.”

Baekhyun places his hand on his chest fully offended, turning to Jongdae for support. Jongdae can only stare at him in disdain, the method acting was equally terrible but Jongdae wasn’t about to let Baekhyun loose face alone. So he also places his hand on his chest, getting a sharp nod of approval from the YouTuber. “We aren’t.” 

“And saying that is such a stereotypical thing by the way because people won’t believe me when I’m telling the truth like now, for instance, setting me up to fail already.” Baekhyun lectured, altering his cap as if he hadn’t been stereotyping earlier in the car. 

Sehun stared at the duo unimpressed, he isn’t going to waste his breath on them a second longer. So, without another word, he begins to walk off. Panic overtook Jongdae’s features because Sehun could be a solid lead to this Kai. 

“We’ll pay you!” Jongdae bribed, slamming his hand on Baekhyun’s wallet, pulling out a 20 dollar note holding it up in the air. 

Sehun pauses in his step but he doesn’t bother to move towards them, instead, he stared at them with a bored expression. Jongdae glances at Minseok who subtly points upwards hoping the message was received correctly, and it was because Jongdae pulls out a few banknotes.

“$50?” 

Sehun takes a step back, tucking his hands behind his back. “Enjoy yourselves, gentlemen.” 

“I’m not budging from the price,” Baekhyun yanks his wallet from Jongdae, he had taken precautions like visiting an ATM because he knew they’d come here. But that didn’t mean wasting all of the cash on one person. “Take it or leave it.” 

Sehun catches a glimpse of Minseok who nodded in approval, and with two long steps, the money in Jongdae’s hands was in his now. “Dancers aren’t allowed by the bar.” 

“What? Why?”

“Because we can’t dance by the bar,” Sehun said in a matter-of-fact tone, walking away. “Follow me.” 

Baekhyun rushes behind the tall stripper, while Jongdae thanks Minseok once more for his help and drink, picking up his cocktail hurrying after them. They stop by an unoccupied table, and Sehun simply climbs the stage, tucking the money in his boxers, while Baekhyun and Jongdae sit down in front of him. 

Sehun’s limbs moved like they were half liquid, in perfect rhythm with the music. He twirled around the pole with ease, kicking his right leg forward with a flexed calf muscle towards the pair before lowering to his knees, coming closer to them. “Well, what did you want?” 

Jongdae gestures at Baekhyun to take the initiative of the conversation, hoping this time it’ll go better. 

“Yes, how well do you know Kai?” 

Sehun shrugs, gripping the pole to pull him back on his feet as he gives a full view of his ass. “Well enough.” 

Jongdae spits out his straw, glaring at Sehun. “We gave you 50 dollars, you need to be a little more clear, buddy!” 

Sehun pivoted in a revolving whirl of sharp precision and accuracy, his muscles tensing and relaxing to show off his sculpt. He batters his lashes once more, before letting out another fake smile. “You have 3 questions, 2 now, and that’s it.” 

Jongdae hits Baekhyun’s shoulder annoyed, lowering his voice to not show Sehun that their teamwork was off this fine afternoon. “Why would you ask him if he knew Kai again! You already asked him by the bar!” 

“How should I have known we only have 3 questions!” Baekhyun uttered also taken back by this predicament. “We need to pick the next 2 questions smartly, okay?” 

“Okay,” Jongdae agreed. “You ask one and then I’ll ask one.” 

Baekhyun focuses back on Sehun who is dancing with ease on the pole waiting for them to finish their mini-impromptu meeting. “Where is Kai?” 

“Are you serious?” Jongdae roared in outrage. “What part of smartly did you not get?” 

“He’s very distracting! I didn’t foresee this scenario! Like at all.” Baekhyun huffed as Sehun tilted his body to them hooking his thumb on his boxers waiting to be tipped. “I’m not paying you more unless—“

“My boss is watching, you have too.” Sehun cut him off in a hushed tone, and Baekhyun begrudgingly stuffs a few dollars. 

“We aren’t going to give you any more until you give us proper answers,” Jongdae warns, sipping his drink once more. 

Sehun laughs in amusement, sliding off the stage, inching to Baekhyun pushing him against the couch. “Let me give you a lap dance, my boss won’t leave unless he sees me do it. It’s routine…” 

Baekhyun and Jongdae exchange looks, as Sehun opened Baekhyun’s legs. Sehun was lying, he was going to get some cash out these suckers before leaving them dry. As if he’d sell out Kai for some quick cash. He’ll split the money with Kai. So, Sehun rolled his hips, his movements flowed with perfected grace, arching his back and parting his mouth slightly letting out a faint whimper, knowing how lethal he can be. 

“You’re really, erm, flexible,” Baekhyun commented, trying to not squirm at how close Sehun’s pelvis was to him. 

“Thanks.” Sehun whispered in Baekhyun’s ear, “Tip me to make it believable.” 

Baekhyun stiffly places another 5 dollar note in Sehun’s boxers, only to get hit across the head by Jongdae who glares at him. “You haven’t answered my question, where is Kai?” 

“Yeah, answer us. Where is he?” Jongdae reinforces, lowering his now empty drink on the table. 

“That’s the third question,” Sehun tutted, pressed his back against Baekhyun’s chest before pulling away quickly with a satisfied smirk. “He’s behind you.” 

Both of them swerve their heads so quickly, turning around and there was the infamous Kai standing by the bar talking with Minseok. 

“Bye.” Sehun teased, rushing to the bar as he elopes Kai into a side-hug. 

“We got played…” 

“They all have such good bodies,” Baekhyun mumbled, watching Sehun talk to Kai trying to decipher what he could possibly be saying. But it was clear, when Sehun pointed at them as Kai scans them with a blank expression. “Abort mission!” 

Without waiting for his fellow comrade, Baekhyun lowers his cap even further down his face in hopes to conceal his entire face if possible and makes a run for it. Jongdae rushes after him yelling a weak ‘traitor’ as he covers the lower part of his face with his hands. 

(—————)

“I can’t believe we got let out early.” Sehun chatted bouncing on his toes in excitement for a few seconds, before pressing himself closer to Kai for warmth. 

“That’s because we got two big groups tonight, finished our quotas and still got some extra tips,” Kai answered, welcoming Sehun’s heat in the freezing night. He taps away the excess cigarette ash with a shaky hand on the ground, the withdrawals of his painkillers beginning but he simply shuts the craving with his cigarette.

Sehun and Kai finished their demanding and seemingly endless shifts at the club earlier than usual. It wasn’t often that they were able to leave before their usual time, not that their shifts had consistent hours. Sehun and Kai weren’t independent contractors like most strippers in other clubs who come and go as they please working as required, instead, their club, Exodus, had hired them as employees. Both being in need of cash and too young to understand how the entertainment business worked along with its infinite exploitations at the time, the pair signed the gruesome contract without truly understanding how tough and back-breaking their job became. Trapping them. 

The moment they step into the club, the clock starts to tick. They are stuck in the club for their contracted 8-hour shift and if they aren’t able to reach their daily quotas they’ll either have to continue to dance until they achieve it regardless of overtime, which isn’t paid for, or they’ll have to pay from their own pockets to complete their quotas. In the fine print of their manipulative contracts, it was stated that the money they make after their daily quotas, from tips, lap dances and some private rooms are theirs to keep. However, most of the time the dancers become too exhausted to continue dancing, which is why on some nights they’re barely scraping by, and on others they have a good night. Like tonight. 

“You know what we should do tomorrow?” Sehun said with his brows slightly raised. “We should wear matching outfits, then we’ll get requested for private rooms together like tonight.” 

Kai hums in agreement, his eyes focused on the large corporal glass-building across the street from them. He wonders if Chanyeol is already home, lounging on his couch or if he’s with his stupid boyfriend. He scrunches his nose at the thought in displeasure. He’ll make Chanyeol his, boyfriend or not.

Sehun takes an unlit cigarette from his own crumpled packet and places it on the edge of his lips, tilting his head towards Kai’s burning cancer-stick lighting up his own cigarette with it. 

“We should be high school students.” Sehun continued after taking a deep inhale of the cigarette, his shoulders relaxing at the instant relief of nicotine entering his bloodstream.

Kai drops his bag by his feet, as he rests his back on the side of the empty bus-stop. “Send me the dress code then.” 

“What’s so interesting about that building?” Sehun asks, propping his chin on Kai’s shoulder surveying the workplace of Chanyeol, unknown to him. Kai rolls his eyes, blowing smoke to Sehun’s side profile nudging him off. 

“Nothing that concerns you.” Kai sang in a teasing manner, letting the smoke escape his lips as he spoke. 

“I’ll find out.” Sehun sang back, ruffling Kai’s wild curls. 

Sehun doesn’t know about Chanyeol, and Kai isn’t sure if he wants him to know. He’d rather not hurt Sehun, rubbing more salt on his wounded heart. Kai glances back at the building, with a frown. “But aren’t I already doing that?” 

“Doing what?”

Kai blinks. He did it again. He spoke his inner thoughts aloud. 

“Kai, doing what?” 

_Hurting you,_ Kai wanted to say. But this time he holds back his word-vomit. Just as he’s about to distract Sehun, he spots two figures emerging from glass building in deep conversation inching towards the main road waiting to cross. 

It was Chanyeol, Kai’s eyes widened. He didn’t expect this at all. 

“It’s that weirdo from the club asking about you,” Sehun exclaimed in mild-surprised. He wrapped his arm around Kai’s shoulder, tilting forward trying to get a better view of the two men across the road, but Kai simply shrugs him off. “He was harmless, we could beat him up if he tries anything.” 

Kai flicks his cigarette on the ground in a haste, stomping on it with the tip of his dirtied sneaker. He swats away any of the remaining grey smoke mist they’ve created. 

“What are you doing?” Sehun’s mouth twitched in amusement. 

“Sehun, pretend you’re talking to me.”

Sehun snorts, placing a hand on his hip. “I am thought?” 

“Sunshine!” Kai huffed ignoring the laughter bubbling out of Sehun, his eyes darting to Chanyeol and his friend beginning to cross the wide 5-lane road.

“Fine, you look like cotton candy with that jacket on.” Sehun laughed, only to get a playful hit in response and that caused him to laugh harder. “What? It’s true, white hair and a purple jacket?” 

“You’re the one that got it for me!” Kai scoffed, wrapping his arms around his fuzzy purple jacket protectively. 

“You forced me to buy it for you!” Sehun grinned his eyes gleamed in sincerity, watching the latter try to come up with a witty response. He loved to tease Kai, it was an endearing sight to see him banter back and forth. But it’s become a rarity in these last few months. 

“Because I looked really cute—“  
“Kai?” 

Kai closes his eyes for a moment, letting himself grin. Chanyeol calls out his name again and this time Kai turns around with a wide smile plastered on his face feigning surprise. “Chanyeol? Chanyeol!” 

Without missing a beat, Kai hugs Chanyeol tightly pressing his face against his chest. The abrupt affectionate action caught all three occupants off guard staring at the platinum-head in shock. Before Chanyeol can peal Kai’s clingy arms off him, the dancer pulls away. 

“What are you still doing here? Don’t you finish work at a normal time?” Kai asked earnestly, his sole focus on Chanyeol. He tucks his hands behind him hiding his shaky hands, he’d rather not show Chanyeol the side-effects of his drug withdrawals after their last encounter.

Chanyeol rubs the back of his neck a little embarrassed. “We got in trouble actually, and got stuck with working overtime for some clients.” 

The trouble was Jongdae being a whole hour late after their lunch break, and Chanyeol was questioned to where his desk-mate was. He had no plans to expose that Jongdae was out helping his mother with her appointment at the bank. So he lied about Jongdae’s whereabouts covering for him, however, what Chanyeol didn’t anticipate was for Jongdae to also lie causing their stories to overlap resulting in their supervisor punishing them. 

It occurs to Chanyeol in that very moment that Jongdae has no clue who Kai is, let alone what he does or better yet, doesn’t remember being the one that booked him for Chanyeol for a private dance. Flashbacks of Baekhyun meeting Kai run through his mind, and Chanyeol can’t help but panic a little bit at the thought of it happening again. But Chanyeol can trust Jongdae to behave, more so than the others. Where Baekhyun had no filter and says whatever he likes not caring to be discreet or polite, Jongdae, on the other hand, was much more sensible in that department. He’ll talk to Jongdae later before Baekhyun has the chance to tell him about what he saw when Kai slept over at Chanyeol’s place. It was all a misunderstanding, he’d rather not make a big deal out of something small. 

Chanyeol wasn’t embarrassed per se to be friends with Kai, but it was more of the fact that his friends will most definitely poke fun at him for their encounter and how he refused Kai’s services, and that Chanyeol has a hard time with making friends and the one time he does it’s with a stripper who had a breakdown in front of him and slept over. 

“This is Jongdae, he’s one of my best friends.” Chanyeol introduced, totally oblivious to the predicament. Kai doesn’t even bother to turn his gaze to Jongdae, he doesn’t care for the man. Chanyeol is his priority. 

Jongdae gives them a meek bow, looking away from the dancers. He will most definitely fist-fight Baekhyun the next time he sees him, because their disguises were obviously terrible if Sehun is openly glaring at him. 

Like an enthusiastic child showing off to their parent, Kai pulls Sehun to his side, wrapping his arms around Sehun’s waist. “This is my Sehun.” 

Sehun narrows his eyes at the mute Jongdae, who keeps trying to avoiding their gazes. He doesn’t know what is going on, and it seems like Jongdae is in the same boat as him in that aspect. 

Chanyeol flashes the other dance a friendly smile, and an extended hand to shake. “Nice to finally meet you! Now I can put a face to your name.” 

Sehun gives a hesitant nod, not touching Chanyeol’s hand. “You know about me?” 

He can’t risk having Kai start hanging out with strange people again and spiral out of control, knowing how easily influenced Kai can become when manipulated. Sehun can’t control much of Kai’s life because he isn’t around the other 24 hours a day, but the hours he is with him, he’ll try to protect and shield him as much as he can. After all, Kai has been in previous situations where he’d meet random men outside of work, and end up getting abused and used because they promised him money, drugs, sex or all three. 

“Of course! Kai talks about you a lot. You’re his number one.” Chanyeol assured giving him a thumbs up for emphasis. 

Kai glances at Sehun’s stony face not wanting to give Chanyeol a bad impression he bumps hips with Sehun playfully wanting him to ease up. Chanyeol wasn’t dangerous, he’s anything but that. 

“Number one? I don’t think so,” Kai said playfully, cracking a small smile out of Sehun. 

“Yeah, he’s my number one too.” 

Jongdae needs to flee the scene before his terrible uncover mission can be exposed, so he clears his throat. “The bus is gonna arrive any minute now, we better go Chanyeol.” 

Kai won’t let Chanyeol get out of his hands this quickly, not after bumping into him. “Is it number 38? We take it too.” 

And before Sehun or Jongdae can complain or find some type of fault in the matter of all four of them boarding the same vehicle, the bus arrives. Kai doesn’t waste any time in yanking Sehun into the public transport, with Chanyeol and Jongdae following in suit. 

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol glances at Jongdae as they show their bus passes, concern written all over his face. It was strange for Jongdae to be so reserved and quiet, he’s usually very social and friendly but right now Jongdae looks as if he’s trying to hide. 

“Huh? Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? I’m just tired.” Jongdae says in a rush, following Chanyeol towards the back of the bus where Kai and Sehun sat. Chanyeol sat in front of the dancers, instead of beside them in the back seat and Jongdae sighs in appreciation for the distance. 

“What do you do at work then? You’re from that big building.” Sehun asks, propping his elbow on the window as Chanyeol turns his body to their direction. He might as well try to get some information out of them, Kai seemed uncharacteristically keen to be with Chanyeol and that was a red flag. 

Kai laces his fingers with Sehun’s, pretending they’re Chanyeol’s, knowing fully well that the office worker will scold him if he holds his hand. 

“Yeah, we work at the Yang and Lee architecture firm. We’re part of the marketing team.” Chanyeol explained with a light smile, loosening his tie. “It’s not as boring as it sounds, I promise.” 

“Marketing?” Sehun quirks a brow, turning to look out of the window. He used to study finance back when he was enrolled in community college, but now he’s a college drop-out. He really loved it, yearned to learn but unfortunately, his circumstances were tough to accommodate and he resorted to stripping as an escape and last chance. In another life, maybe he’d be able to work in a fancy company Sehun mused. 

Chanyeol isn’t sure if he’s said something wrong because Sehun isn’t even looking at them anymore, focusing on the night-life outside in the streets. He doesn’t want to cause offence, especially when it was unintentional. 

Before Chanyeol can speak, Sehun utters once more. “What about your friend? Can he talk or a cat got his tongue?” 

Jongdae chokes on air, his strategy of blending in the background isn’t working. He can feel Sehun’s heel digging in the back of his seat, almost as a warning. Slowly, Jongdae turns around finally getting a good look at both Sehun and Kai’s bare faces. “Y-Yes, I can talk.” 

“Good, answer me this,” Sehun eyes him up and down in disdain. But just as he was about to expose Jongdae for sneaking around the club, Kai knocks their knees together subtly, and Sehun glances at Kai before leaning back in defeat. “Erm, what about you do you like work?” 

Sehun doesn’t understand why Kai doesn’t seem at all fazed by Jongdae’s presence. Even back at the club, Kai was more interested in eating their lunch than trying to figure out why two men came to the club asking about him. 

Not trusting his voice to not go a pitch higher at the strong aura he’s being surrounded with, Jongdae opts to simply nod. Chanyeol is looking at him weirdly and Jongdae doesn’t blame him, he is certain that he’s sweating profusely, he’s terrible at hiding things. 

Chanyeol presses the button on the side in a hurry, smiling at Jongdae. “You almost missed your stop! You really must be really tired today.” 

Jongdae lets out an uneasy laugh, thanking the heavens that he can escape. He stands up, shuffling out of his seat waiting for the bus to park. “Nice to meet you both.” 

“This is Sehunnie’s stop too!” Kai said with mischief lurking in his lips and eyes. He knew Sehun had every intention of skipping his stop to come with Kai, but Kai wasn’t going to let that happen. Not when Chanyeol is here. 

The bus comes to a halt, and Jongdae has never leapt out quicker but Sehun’s long legs were advantageous because as soon as Jongdae touches the pavement, Sehun wraps an arm around his shoulders holding Jongdae back from running off. 

“You looked like you were about to pass out in there,” Sehun whispered in his ear, sending shivers down Jongdae’s back. “What’s the matter, _Jongdae?_ “

Jongdae pushes himself away from Sehun in a panic. “Listen, you got the wrong guy—“ 

“I could literally fight you right now for being a creep back in the club,” Sehun began, shoving his hands in his back pockets with a bored expression. Something is going on, and Sehun is going to get to the bottom of it. “And between you and me, I think we know who’d win.” 

Jongdae swallows thickly, gripping his briefcase tighter. His and Sehun’s builds were completely different, he wouldn’t stand a chance in winning a fistfight. If he does come out of this alive, he’d definitely win against Baekhyun when he sees him next. 

“I wasn’t being a creep, but I can understand why you’d think—“ Jongdae’s breath hitches when Sehun shoves him against the brick wall. He looks around for help but no passer-by is looking at them. 

Sehun places his forearm above Jongdae’s head essentially caging him in, with their faces inches away. “How about you answer some of _my_ questions now, and you won’t get beat up?” 

(—————)

Back on the bus, Kai didn’t waste any time in taking a seat beside Chanyeol. Kai glanced over at the office worker, the corner of his lips fighting a smile because now they were alone and Kai couldn’t have been more glad. 

“I dyed my hair.” Kai tugs off his hood to show his platinum curls eager to please. 

Chanyeol’s eyes widen, at the sudden announcement. “What? Really? It was pink two days ago!” 

“I told you I would,” Kai’s smile slips and he stares at Chanyeol confused, did he hallucinate the scenario in his head. He wasn’t delusional, he isn’t. Did that mean that the time he spent with Chanyeol in his apartment, wasn’t even real. That he blacked out? He didn’t take anything, but his memory is hazy, he didn’t, did he? Was Chanyeol too good to be true? Was he even real right now? Is he having another drug hallucination? He can’t even trust himself to confirm. 

“I told you I would! I told you, didn’t I?!”

Were the demons in his mind, toying with him? Kai snaps his head to Chanyeol, unable to register the look of concern on Chanyeol’s face. Instead, he touches the side of Chanyeol’s face checking if he’s truly there. Kai can feel Chanyeol’s soft skin, solid. He’s real. Kai tries to regulate his breathing to calm himself down. It wouldn’t do him any good if he had a panic attack right now. 

_Chanyeol is here. He’s here. He’s here. He’s here. I’m not a nutcase. I’m not a nutcase._

It’s as if some strings snapped inside of Kai, because his eyes glazed over, his face turning blank. Chanyeol hesitantly touches Kai’s hand, pulling it away from his cheek, not wanting to set him off. Kai was fine moments ago if anything he was more chirpy than usual. 

“You did, you did tell me.” Chanyeol assured slowly. “I didn’t think you’d really dye it. You did tell me, when I was walking you home. A-And it really suits you…” 

Kai tries to blink away the tears, tightening his grip on Chanyeol’s hand. He wasn’t delusional, but the toxic thoughts inside of his head told him otherwise. The poisonous thoughts were rapid, and Kai pleaded with them to slow down so he could breathe but they were unsparing. His heart is pounding against his ribs ready to combust. He’s underwater, and he hates the silence. He remembers his father’s rough hand on his neck pushing his head down in the bathtub submerging him in the ice-cold water.

He looks around frantically, trying to listen to the passing cars and the few people on the bus but no sounds were being made. 

_I can’t hear, I can’t hear, I can’t hear. Stop it. Please. I want it to stop._

“Kai? Kai.” Chanyeol called out unnerved by Kai’s wild orbs, darting around like a rabbit running for its life. Then it hits Chanyeol like a ton of bricks, he’s having another breakdown like the last time. 

Chanyeol doesn’t wince at the pain of Kai’s iron-grip, instead he yanks himself free and cradles Kai’s face forcing his peripheral vision to focus on him. “Look at me, Kai. Can you do that for me? Concentrate on my voice.” 

Kai grabs Chanyeol’s wrists as if they’re a lifeline. His vision is blurry with all the tears welling up, but he blinks them away trying to remind himself that he’s solid, he’s here, he’s real. He can hear muffled fragments of Chanyeol’s deep voice breakthrough and it brings immediate relief that he’s not spiralling. He can control himself. He can. 

“There you go, just copy my breathing,” Chanyeol repeated over and over again, caressing Kai’s hollow cheeks in hope to bring comfort. “You’re okay, Kai. Just copy my breathing.” 

Kai nods frantically, lowering his head letting the tears fall on his thighs. “I’m…I’m..okay.” 

“You’re doing a really good job, Kai.” Chanyeol praised, stroking Kai’s head. “You’re not in danger, you’re on the bus with me.” 

_I’m not in danger. I’m on the bus. With Chanyeol. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay._

The voices in his head were dying out, and Kai couldn’t be more grateful. He won tonight. He did it, no drugs to drown them out tonight. 

“I’m okay..” Kai whispered, his breathing raspy. He pulls away completely from Chanyeol’s touches, resting his head against the window in exhaustion, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. 

“You’re okay.” Chanyeol nods his head, trying to detect any further instability in Kai but the stripper seemed to have calmed down. He doesn’t know what triggered Kai, it wasn’t like the other night. Kai wasn’t kicking and screaming, he looked frightened, trying to keep himself together. 

I’m solid, I’m here, I’m real. Kai kept repeating in his mind, his eyes on Chanyeol’s concerned face. He knows he must have looked like a lunatic but he wasn’t, he wanted to tell Chanyeol that before Chanyeol tells him he doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Kai will understand, after all, he is known to being a mess. He’s infamous for it. 

“I’m not…crazy.” Kai croaked, unable to hold Chanyeol’s strong gaze anymore. 

Chanyeol parted his lips in disbelief, holding himself back from attacking Kai into a tight hug. “I know that! Of course, you aren’t!” 

Kai scrunches his nose at the reply, not expecting this type of reaction. “What?” 

“I know you aren’t crazy. Just because you had a panic attack, doesn’t mean you’re crazy.” Chanyeol elaborated hoping his words are giving the dancer some ease.

The bus announces the arrival of their neighbourhood in the intercom, and Chanyeol presses the button sensing the wheels slow down. He stands up, holding onto the straphanger above giving Kai more room to move. The doors slide open and Chanyeol takes a few steps forward, glancing by Kai who is still sitting down. 

“Come on, before the doors close.” Chanyeol encourages, watching Kai follow him out like a cautious puppy. 

Chanyeol did not expect his night to end like this, with Kai like this. It seems like his words brought more tension than ease to the dancer because Kai stood by the bus-stop unmoving. Chanyeol doesn’t want to leave him alone. Not after what just happened, and he doesn’t want to cause another attack. So, the only logical thing for him so far was to stand beside Kai in silence. 

For once, Kai doesn’t know what to do or say. He stares at his dirty sneakers, trying to understand the situation. Chanyeol agrees with him that he isn’t crazy, he hasn’t heard another soul tell him this in such a long time that it’s foreign to his ears. Kai shifts his eyes from his old converse to Chanyeol’s shiny brown dress shoes. 

“You didn’t freak out.” Kai murmurs, leaving the word ‘again’ unsaid. 

He keeps showing Chanyeol all the worst sides of him, and it makes Kai wonder how long can Chanyeol hold out before dropping him. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up, he knows how quickly he gets attached to people. Sehun tells him that all the time. 

Chanyeol looks at Kai happily that he isn’t getting brushed off, but the other is staring at the ground. Progress, Chanyeol thought. 

“Yeah, my sister used to have them growing up. All the time, it was really bad but the older she got, the better her condition became.” Chanyeol explains staring at the convenience store from across the road. “She rarely has them now.” 

Kai shakes his head subtly, this was a stupid idea. He was humiliating, who did he think he was in trying to make Chanyeol his. As if Chanyeol will even have the thought of being with someone like him. He was fooling himself, letting himself get too carried away by mistaking sympathy for something else. Kai can’t even lie to himself a minute longer, he tugs on the hood over his head and starts to walk away.

“Where are you going? Kai!” Chanyeol runs up to him, standing in his way effectively stopping him. 

“Pity. Sympathy.” Kai’s eyes were glassy as he lifts his head to finally meet Chanyeol’s eyes. “That’s what I get. I don’t deserve anything further than that, I never did. You know why?” 

Chanyeol is taken back by the vague statement, he takes a step forward but Kai takes two back. 

“Because I’m a shitty person.” Kai hisses, the words burning his throat. He takes a step to the side, ready to walk but Chanyeol is blocking him away. 

“Move!”  
“Is that what you think I’m doing? Feeling sorry for you?” 

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes, he’s tired of people assuming things about him. He’s sick of it. Just because he holds back, doesn’t mean he has no personality or opinion. He’s tired of Junmyeon telling him how wrong he is constantly, he’s tired of Baekhyun trying to tell him how he should act. He’s tired of everybody thinking they have the right to shape him into the man they want—

“That’s exactly what you’re doing. The only reason you’re even bothering with me is that you feel sorry for me! The same way Sehun only bothers with me because he’s in love with me! I play with people so I’m not alone, but I-I can’t do that with you!” 

“I bother with you _because_ you are my friend! Feeling sorry for you has nothing to do with it!” Chanyeol snaps not noticing the passerby’s glancing at them, startling Kai. “So, please don’t tell me what to think, or how to feel. That’s the one thing that belongs to me completely! Nobody, not even you, can tell me otherwise!” 

They stood completely still, trying to catch their breaths. Chanyeol shuts his eyes, regret washing all over him. He didn’t mean to lash out on Kai like that, he just didn’t know how else to convince the dancer. 

“That was out of line.” Chanyeol sighed, rubbing the back of his nape.

Kai doesn’t speak, he just continued to stare at Chanyeol with his mastered poker-face. But his eyes were the only thing deceiving his indifferent expression. Chanyeol doesn’t want to argue anymore, he’s tired. He’d understand if Kai doesn’t want to bother with him. Chanyeol knows he’s labelled by his friends, and even at times Junmyeon, as a loser. Who did he think he was trying to be, trying to widen his horizon with someone completely different like Kai? He enjoyed Kai’s company and witty banter but now he’s sure he ruined it. 

The only thing Chanyeol could say was, “I’m sorry.” 

Not waiting for a reply from Kai, he turns around on the back of his heel and starts walking in the direction of his home. He’s tired of justifying, of explaining or fighting why his opinions mattered. His voice mattered. He always compensated on everyone else’s shortcomings, never bothering to put himself as his own main priority. Chanyeol isn’t one to vent, he’s usually the one that listens. So when he yelled at Kai, his chest tightened because it wasn’t Kai’s fault entirely, he just got the burn of Chanyeol’s pent-up feelings. 

What Chanyeol doesn’t expect is a strong tug on his sleeve causing him to stop in his tracks. He turns around, assuming it’s a lost child but there Kai stood with his head down instead. 

“I’m sorry, too,” Kai said faintly, not letting go of Chanyeol’s sleeve. 

Chanyeol nods his head in gratitude, some of the tension from earlier seeping out him. Maybe both of them weren’t such lost-causes. “I…don't mind walking you back to your apartment.” 

Kai shakes his head, his eyes hidden by the hood. _Friends,_ Kai has to remind himself. 

“Can I sleepover at your place instead?” Kai doesn’t trust himself enough after everything that happened tonight. His feelings were all over the place, he’s beyond exhausted especially after his attack, Chanyeol keeps him grounded at least. 

“Yeah, sure!” Chanyeol agreed instantly.

He’s relieved that their earlier spat, if one would even call it that, wasn’t taken to heart. It makes him feel better that he can keep an eye on Kai since he still doesn’t know what possibility triggered it. The past few days were tough for both of them, Chanyeol with his and Junmyeon's anniversary, and Kai with his fall out with Sehun and him not taking any narcotics to keep Sehun happy. Today seemed to be the breaking point for both of them. 

They start to walk neither of them talking letting the neighbourhood be their noise, and Chanyeol realizes half-way through that Kai hasn’t let go of his sleeve. Kai’s fingers are white-knuckled holding onto the fabric. 

Kai notices Chanyeol staring, and clears his throat. “It’s a habit.” 

“I’m not annoyed by it or anything!” Chanyeol blurs out, it was a little strange he’ll admit. He wants to ask why Kai is holding onto him in such a way but he feels too shy to ask. Yet, as if Kai read his mind he answers him. 

“It reminds me that I’m real…that I won’t float away.” 

And with that final statement, the pair walk down the night streets comforted by each other’s presence. It was more than enough for tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I wanted to convey how abruptly Kai's moods shift and his mentality because of his dependency on drugs and people to make him calm. I also wanted to show more insight on Chanyeol and his relationship with Junmyeon, and how he often holds back to not upset anybody. But he snapped today. Also, I hope you guys enjoy the BaekDae detectives in this hehe. 
> 
> I'm sorry, I'm an angsty hoe.
> 
> ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
> 
> If you ever wanna chat or are too shy to comment on here this is my twitter is:@GlazedDounut72
> 
> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~
> 
> I'm not asking for a full book report (although that would be MARVELOUS) I'm just asking to be paid with your thoughts, opinions, and feedback.
> 
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.


	8. Routine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ♥11.8K♥ chapter as a good start for me being officially out of hiatus. 
> 
> I also want to thank every single person who took the time to write their sweet and kind comments and gave kudos! I really appreciate you! I am so lucky to have readers who are actively engaged with the story and pour their hearts out. I legit take screenshots of them and save them in an album dedicated to comments, and re-read them for motivation and moral support. So thank you. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ♡

Chanyeol’s evenings weren’t interesting, not that he had a problem with it. He was used to them. He’d get off work, cook something for dinner and catch up on either some work or a popular series. It was a simple rinse and repeat. Junmyeon would join him every now and then for a cooked meal and a cuddle, but almost always his boyfriend was too busy with the seemingly never-ending workload that he preferred to do instead of stay with Chanyeol. 

And today was no different, he wasn’t breaking his routine. Junmyeon promised him that they’ll have a meat feast tonight in celebration for Junmyeon landing a chance at being promoted. 

So, there Chanyeol sat on the bus ride back home, watching the blurry buildings pass by through the window with a tired smile. He’ll finally be able to see his boyfriend, it’s been four days since they met up. 

His phone vibrates an incoming call, and Chanyeol straightens up as he checks the caller ID. 

_Junmyeonnie <3 _

“Hey, love! I’m going to pick up the meat, so we can have a nice feast when you come over.” Chanyeol greeted with full enthusiasm.

“Yeah, about that I think we’re going to have to take a raincheck on our mini barbecue,” Junmyeon answered instead. 

And just like that, Chanyeol’s heart is in the pit of his stomach. He can’t help but whine into the phone hoping that it will miraculously make Junmyeon change his mind. “But we barely even see each other these days.”

“Don’t act like a child,” Junmyeon’s voice is ice cold and Chanyeol unconsciously bites his tongue knowing he made a mistake. “You know as much as I do that this project was dropped on me suddenly, it’s not like I have a choice in the matter.” 

“I know…” Chanyeol whispers into the speaker, not wanting to upset Junmyeon any further. 

Chanyeol could hear Junmyeon sigh, and he bites the inside of his cheek ready to be reprimanded. 

However, Junmyeon’s tone is much softer which surprises him. “I’ll make it up to you sweetheart, okay? This is a really important project, I’ve got other deadlines along this one to finish, and there are—“

“—People depending on you.” Chanyeol finishes his sentence for him. 

“Yeah, there are.” Junmyeon agrees with a light chuckle at Chanyeol’s mimicking. “I have to go now, but like I said I’ll make it up to you.” 

“Sorry, yeah you should go.”  
“I’ll call you later tonight if I can.”

“Okay, take care!” But the line is already dead, and so was Chanyeol’s night. 

Chanyeol knew he had some instant ramen left somewhere in his cupboards. He’ll eat that, his earlier excitement fizzled out completely. He understands Junmyeon’s predicament, he truly does but it’s not fair to him. He doesn’t want to appear selfish and Chanyeol most definitely doesn’t want to have a fight with his boyfriend over the matter. 

“Not like last time.” Chanyeol shivered at the flashback of their anniversary fight, pressing the bell for his stop feeling the tires of the bus slowly come to a halt. 

He just wished he hadn’t over-prepared. He even brought a new grill for tonight alongside the rest of the ingredients needed for some fresh barbecue the day before. As Chanyeol stepped off the bus, the cold wind hits him and he can’t help but nuzzle his face into his scarf. 

His phone buzzes again, and he half-expects it to be his boyfriend telling him that he’ll come over after all, but instead it was a text from Kai. 

Kai: _buy me food_

Kai always seemed to appear in the right moments, like an unsuspecting hero. 

It’s been well over two weeks since his outburst and Kai’s panic attack, and the pair fell back into the rhythm of life. Chanyeol assumed that that very next morning would make their short-lived friendship turn awkward making it unbearable for them to continue being friends, but Kai proved him wrong with his nonchalantness stating that they both apologized and there was nothing to it. The air between them didn’t seem so stuffy for much longer, and Chanyeol was beyond grateful for it. 

They meet up every few days to eat dinner together, and it was a mundane yet nice addition to Chanyeol’s nightly routine that it almost went unnoticed. To Chanyeol it was pleasant to have somebody there with you, sharing a warm meal. It makes his nights less lonely. Chanyeol never knows what day or time Kai would text him and Chanyeol doesn’t mind, enjoying the occasional company. 

They’ve known each other now for almost two months and Chanyeol barely cracked the protective shell of Kai. He doesn’t know much about the enigmatic dancer, but he’s willing to find out. Kai brought out something in Chanyeol that he hadn’t felt in a long time, interest. 

He added a splash of colour to Chanyeol’s black and white life, unannounced yet welcomed. 

Chanyeol: _usual subway station entrance?_  
Kai: _yea_  
Chanyeol: _Dancing Spongebob gif_

He quickly takes back that his evenings weren’t interesting, maybe he just didn’t realize what was in front of him.

(—————)

Chanyeol can see Kai’s back, after all, he’s still wearing Chanyeol’s hoodie and hasn’t returned it yet. Not that Chanyeol minds, if anything it makes him glad that it’s keeping the latter warm in the cold night. He quickens his pace, placing a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Hey! Did I make you wait long?” 

Kai doesn’t reply to Chanyeol, nor does he flinch at the contact. He simply turns around and that is when Chanyeol blinks repeatedly at Kai’s face trying to remain nonchalant. It was well past 9 at night, and there Kai stood wearing black sunglasses. 

“I didn’t realize it was this sunny outside.” Chanyeol joked but Kai pays him no mind.

Instead, Kai walks not bothering to look back. Chanyeol is taken back by the icy snub, the lack of verbal response and smiles. However, he does not waste any time in trying to figure out why, so he jogs towards Kai, falling into his quick pace. 

“What do you want to eat? What are you craving?” Chanyeol chats with a wide smile in hopes of radiating an affable aura, but Kai isn’t even look in his direction. 

“Something expensive,” Kai answered softly. 

And expensive is what he got. It will definitely make a dent in Chanyeol’s wallet for this month but he didn’t mind, as long as it could cheer up Kai. Even for a little while. 

Their walk to the restaurant was silent, and this time there was no comfort in it. It doesn’t particularly help with all of the blatant stares in their direction, all aimed at Kai from the moment Chanyeol met up with him. Even now, as they sat across from each other in the secluded back-area seating of the restaurant, waiting for a waiter to come by. 

Kai hasn’t spoken a word, nor has he taken off his sunglasses. 

“Uh, I just—“ Chanyeol gets cut off by the waiter’s arrival. 

“Hello, welcome to ‘The Marine Room’. I’m Daewoo and I’ll be your server for tonight.” 

Chanyeol watches the emotional range on the waiter’s face shift with variety. Impassiveness turned to surprise and bewilderment in a matter of seconds, unsure of how to address the situation. Chanyeol cannot really blame him, it’s not a common sight to see someone wearing sunglasses in a dimly lit restaurant in the middle of the nighttime. 

“I want the lobster, fried calamari, shrimp cocktail, fries on the side and two bottles of peach soju.”

Both Chanyeol and the waiter blinked at Kai’s specific order. Especially since the menu was still in the hands of the server, mid-reach. A beat of silence passes over them, and Chanyeol wants it to end. So he clears his throat, snapping the waiter out of his obvious gawking. “I’ll just have a clam soup. That’s all thanks.” 

“I’m not that hungry.” Chanyeol wanted to clarify more so for Kai, than the waiter. He didn’t want to make him feel possibly bad, just in case. 

With that final comment, the waiter leaves. Chanyeol didn’t realize how much Kai was going to splurge on the meal — or meals more like. He’ll just eat ramen for lunch and dinner for the rest of the week, in order to try and balance out tonight’s meal. He still had 6 packets of spicy chicken ramen, he’ll manage easily. 

The 20-year-old dancer was beyond exhausted. His bones ached and in the worst way possible, Kai just wanted to take a few painkillers or a line of whatever drug he can get his hands on to ride it out. He tried to readjust his position for his lower back pain, but it just made things worse, triggering Kai to remember the horrible sensation of rough unwelcomed hands kneading his skin with greed. 

Kai scoffs at the memory. It happened two days ago, nothing out of the ordinary. Just another fracture to Kai’s morale, one crack closer to another mental collapse. The client got a little too handsy with Kai and flashy with his money. And Kai got a little too desperate to score some extra cash, craving the euphoria the pills provide for him. 

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol asks, and this time Kai seems to acknowledge his presence enough to look at Chanyeol and shrug. 

The elephant in the room must be spoken about, or Chanyeol might need more napkins in a minute sensing his body’s nervous mechanism of excessive sweating kick-in. 

Which is why he tries again. 

“So, what’s the story with the sunglasses? It’s, erm, nighttime.” 

Kai’s lips spread into a stiff smile and leans in, away from the shadows to give Chanyeol a clearer view of his face as he tugs off his hood to show his newly dyed hair, a shocking blood-red. Then just like that, Kai tilts his sunglasses low enough to reveal what he’s been hiding. The bruise that began as a purple stain above his eyebrow had sunk into the socket itself and gave the appearance of an ugly black eye. 

Chanyeol flinches at the shocking sight, unnerved by Kai’s indifference. His facade polished and perfected, giving a false sense of nonchalantness about the whole ordeal, and Chanyeol is suddenly reminded of the first night Kai spent over at his place. No teasing remarks, or eager smiles and not even an ounce of flirty behaviour poured out of Kai since the beginning of the night. Just a stoical kid that has a gloomy cloud following him around. 

Kai simply pushes his sunglasses back up to conceal his injury and leans back into the shadows. He didn’t like to show Chanyeol this part of him, the hollow and unwell side of him — the real him. But he didn’t know what to do, with a foggy mind and a sore body. Kai would’ve simply taken a few painkillers and slept away all his hurt per usual. But he was out of pills, and the nearest painkiller he can get on such short notice was in the human form of Chanyeol. The office worker’s mere presence affects Kai strongly, keeps him grounded for the most part, almost composed, focused enough to not drift off and snap another thread of his barely intact sanity. 

They sat in silence. Kai reminding himself to breathe, and Chanyeol telling himself to not get carried away with foul ‘what if’ scenarios on Kai’s black eye. 

“Here are your dishes, and drinks. If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to call me.” 

Chanyeol jumps at the unfamiliar voice. The waiter from earlier sets the food with care on the table and leaves without any additional interactions. 

Kai does not waste any time and digs in like a starved animal. He stabs the lobster meat, and fried calamari at once, dipping them messily into the shrimp cocktail sauce letting it drip onto the table and shoves them into his mouth with one big bite. On the other hand, Chanyeol doesn’t touch his food. His stomach cramped after seeing Kai’s blackened eye. 

“You should leave him,” Chanyeol begins his voice a little shaky and he’s not sure if it’s the nerves of discussing a sensitive topic or out of anger. A bit of both, he internally concluded. “He’s an asshole if he beats you up.” 

It is the only assumption that made the most sense to Chanyeol. The only logical reasoning for the black eye, because it surely wasn’t caused by accident — it didn’t look it. 

Chanyeol knew that Kai and himself can be considered as friends, dare he say, good friends. They shared meals together, for goodness sake. So, why did Chanyeol feel like he barely made a break-through with Kai’s protective steel armour? He doesn’t know much about the dancer, anything personal. And yet, Chanyeol’s senses are telling him the black eye was caused by a who, not a what. 

Kai’s features remain impassive and pours the alcoholic beverage into the small glass to sip. “Have you ever beaten up someone, sunshine?” 

This was most definitely not the response Chanyeol was expecting. A beat of silence wavers over them and Chanyeol realises he hasn’t answered, too dumbfounded.

“No, I haven’t.”  
“Not even once?” 

Chanyeol stares at Kai perplexed. He isn’t sure if Kai is testing him or teasing him, he can never know for certain. Especially with Kai’s smirk that seems to creep on his face in arbitrary timing. Like now. 

“I’ve never been in a physical fight in all of my 24 years of living.” Chanyeol clarifies, finally reaching over to the other peach soju bottle, and pours himself a drink.

“I was going to ask what if feels like.” Kai hums, resuming to eat his seafood with evident hunger. It was one of the unfavourable withdrawals of the drugs. He’ll stuff his face until his stomach is on the verge of exploding before vomiting it all out. He can’t gain weight, if he does he’ll become less desirable at the club and that means fewer clients and less money. It’s one of his coping mechanisms. Trying to fill in the emptiness inside of him, one way or another. 

“It’s not right,” Chanyeol said. 

Kai holds back a sigh. He is beyond exhausted and quite frankly doesn’t have much mental strength left to keep up appearances in front of Chanyeol. He’d rather just drift in and out of consciousness than to explain why he got a black eye. Knowing fully well Chanyeol doesn’t handle a high Kai anyhow, recalling his breakdown in public in the past. 

He doesn’t want to lose Chanyeol. So, Kai does what Kai does best, smile and entertain. 

“Who are you to say what’s right and what’s wrong? You aren’t God.” Kai fake laughs, shoving another shrimp into his already stuffed mouth.

“I’ve got a moral compass,” Chanyeol argues softly, pouring another shot of peach soju. “It’s—“

“Everybody’s moral compass is different.” Kai interrupts sharply, a poisonous smile spread on his lips almost like a warning and Chanyeol knew he was walking on dangerous grounds now but he didn’t care. 

“Why are you defending him? Your boyfriend shouldn’t hit you!”

The earlier hostility in Kai declined rapidly at Chanyeol’s words. It meant that Chanyeol cared about him, and his well-being. He tries to not jump to conclusions but how couldn’t he, when Chanyeol talked with such fierceness that made Kai believe him for a moment. So, Kai looks away trying to keep down his word-vomit before exposing his real self and in the process make Chanyeol realize he doesn’t deserve any of Chanyeol’s kindness. 

“The only boyfriend I want is you,” Kai responded in earnest, leaning in across the table with a hand tucked under his chin. 

And just like that, Kai set Chanyeol off into a coughing fit and reddened ears. Spitting out out the remaining alcohol that sneaked its way into the wrong passages, Chanyeol grips his chest tightly trying to regulate his breathing — and heart. 

“How many times do we have to go over this, I have a boyfriend.” Chanyeol hissed weakly, his throat burning with the aftertaste of alcohol and alarm. “Stop with the jokes, can you for once take this seriously? You’re hurt.” 

Kai’s smile falters, unable to hold back his genuine reaction. He tosses his chopsticks on the table without a care and leans back agitated. It seems that he is somehow always making someone upset, one way or another. 

“I’m always fucking hurt,” Kai mutters under his breath. 

“What was that?” 

The word-vomit is inching closer and closer towards his lips, begging for release and Kai cannot hold it in any longer. 

“I said, a client did this, alright? He was kinky, wanted to be super rough with me and I wanted his cash, so I let him do whatever.” Kai lets the cat out of the bag, it isn’t like he was embarrassed by what he spoke because it was the truth, but with Chanyeol it’s different. He was different, and Kai wanted to keep Chanyeol and his ugly world very separate. “He paid me a lot.” 

Chanyeol doesn’t have a response immediately, because he doesn’t know what to do with this type of sudden information. He knows Kai does more than dance at the club, and he knows it isn’t allowed in the club he works in, since Kai offered himself up to Chanyeol during their first encounter. 

“I didn’t—Really?” 

Kai shoves a fried calamari ring into Chanyeol’s mouth, before munching on one himself. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t answer to nobody. So, it’s my business what I do with my body, right?” 

Helpless, Chanyeol could do nothing but give a stiff nod. Wiping his grease-shined lips with a napkin, all the while internally battling if he should meddle further or not. It isn’t his business like Kai stated, yet it doesn’t feel right especially with Kai’s eccentric nature. And the drugs… 

The 20-year-old watches Chanyeol intently in deep thought, not liking the frown that appeared on Chanyeol’s face. He looked much better when he’s smiling. Kai didn’t like upsetting Chanyeol, and he knew he tended to do this type of shit on purpose to get a rise out of people, to insult them just so they can distance themselves away and stop prying into his life. 

“But,” Kai begins smiling cheekily, he wants to make the frown on Chanyeol’s face disappear. “If you were my boyfriend, I wouldn’t mind answering to you.” 

“Kai!” Chanyeol whined, but the earlier tension thankfully fizzed out. 

“Chanyeol!” Kai mimicked, grabbing his bottle and pouring himself another drink. He hears Chanyeol soft chuckle, and warmth spreads across is chest like vines at the sound not realizing how lovely it truly is. He made Chanyeol laugh, and Kai couldn’t be more proud. 

It is bizarre how a simple laugh can erupt a wave of ecstasy in mere seconds. 

“I feel like I’m on drugs whenever you’re around. The best sedative I ever tried.” Kai reveals, ruffling his red curls into semi-decency finally bothering to clean up his appearance a little. 

Chanyeol frowns at the comparison, especially since Kai explained his relationship with drugs briefly. And even though the dancer didn’t elaborate on the subject any further, Chanyeol can definitely fill in some of the presumptions and gaps in his story-telling. 

“Have you ever done drugs?” Kai asks with a grin, his sour mood gone. Just like that. 

Chanyeol crosses his arms over his chest in thought but cannot recall any moment in his past that involved narcotics. Yet, he wants to sound a little cool to Kai not a total loser like most people label him as. So, the office-worker sits up straighter and gives an I-don’t-remember-but-maybe-I-do-but-this-makes-me-look-cool kind of shrug. 

“Sometimes I eat cough-drops when I run out of candy.” 

Kai’s laugh was like ripples in a still pond after a stone has been thrown in. It radiated outwards through the packed restaurant and Chanyeol couldn’t help but join in, and soon the ripples of laughter became great waves of hilarity. 

_I want you to be mine_ , Kai wished amidst the laughter, blessed with the sight of a happy Chanyeol. All his earlier pain and worries vanished as if they never happened. 

(—————)

The weather was getting chiller, and Chanyeol and his group of friends decided to have a nice get-together at Kyungsoo and Jongdae’s shared apartment for some quality time and de-stressing before winter’s official arrival.

Chanyeol and Jongdae were sprawled on the carpeted floor of the living room chatting, while Baekhyun sat in the far corner of the couch nursing a bottle of beer. 

“So. How’s that gorgeous stripper doing these days, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked with zero-tactic.

Both Chanyeol and Jongdae’s head whip around to Baekhyun’s, one with alarm and the other sheer fear. Baekhyun flashed them a wide smile and sits up, finally something worthy to talk about. Ever since Baekhyun and Jongdae’s failed mission of gathering information on Kai, Baekhyun still had the urge to know more on who this person is to Chanyeol and their status. 

“Shut up, you idiot,” Jongdae warned, throwing a cushion at Baekhyun. 

“Oh, now you’re speaking to me? What happened to ‘go die’?” Baekhyun curled his lips upwards in mischief, but he received another cushion to his face. “Hey!” 

Jongdae shivers remembering that night at the bus stop. The way Sehun cornered him into a wall and Jongdae was sure he saw his life flash before his eyes knowing fully well he wouldn’t survive a fight with Sehun if it came down to it. 

_  
“I could literally fight you right now for being a creep back in the club and between you and me, I think we know who’d win.”_

_Jongdae swallows thickly, gripping his briefcase tighter. His and Sehun’s builds were completely different, he wouldn’t stand a chance in winning a fistfight._

_“I wasn’t being a creep, but I can understand why you’d think—“ Jongdae’s breath hitches when Sehun shoves him against the brick wall. He looks around for help but no passer-by is looking at them._

_Sehun places his forearm above Jongdae’s head essentially caging him in, with their faces inches away. “How about you answer some of my questions now, and you won’t get beat up?”_

_“Yes! Of course! Sure! Uh-huh!” Jongdae nodded his head hurriedly, almost snapping his neck in the process._

_“Why are you asking about Kai? How do you know him? How does that Chanyeol guy know him?”_

_Jongdae is a stuttering mess unsure of what to answer first. “I-I don’t know him! I was dragged by-by that fucker, ugh!” Jongdae averts his eyes to the ground gritting his teeth as he envisions Baekhyun’s stupid face with his stupid smile. “Baekhyun, I will kill you…”_

_“Hey! Stop mumbling under your breath.” Sehun prodded Jongdae’s temple, effectively reminding him of his current sticky predicament._

_“All I know is that my friend saw Kai at Chanyeol’s place in the morning and Chanyeol has a boyfriend so we went to check if he was cheating on his boyfriend and if Kai, erm, uh, if he’s…” Jongdae trails off, his voice getting quieter with each word._

_“He’s what?” Sehun said sharply, his eyes narrowed knowing what Jongdae is implying. “He’s what!”_

_“If he is a prostitute! O-Or a swindler! That’s it! That’s all I know!” Jongdae wailed, raising his briefcase in front of his face as a shield._

_Sehun pushes the briefcase away from Jongdae’s face, earning a terrified yelp. Jongdae still had his eyes closed, looking away. But Sehun simply grabs a handful of Jongdae’s hair yanking his head upwards and effectively forcing him to open his eyes at the stinging sensation on his scalp. Sehun’s eyes were narrowed, rigid and cold. And at that moment, Jongdae knew he was fucked._

_“All of you better stay away from Kai, or I’ll fucking break your kneecaps. Starting with you.” Sehun growled tightening his grip on Jongdae’s hair, before completely letting go and in one swift motion turns on the back of his heel and stalks off.  
_

“Just drop it, Baekhyun!” Jongdae scolded weakly, hugging his knees in distress. 

“I haven’t done anything yet!” 

Kyungsoo emerges from the kitchen carrying a tray filled with snacks he’s been preparing earlier. He sets down the tray revealing the wide homemade variety of assortments, smiling amused at Jongdae quickly crawling over to the coffee table to have his pick of the food like a stray cat. 

“What did you do, Baek?” 

“Home invasion,” Chanyeol answered Kyungsoo, giving Baekhyun the stink eye. 

Baekhyun raises his hands in an act of surrender and clears his throat. “I’ll tell you what happened, I went over to Chanyeol’s in the morning the day you and I were going to each brunch and I see the fucking stripper from his birthday!” 

Kyungsoo turns to Chanyeol with his brows raised. Well, this was new. 

“He’s called Kai!” Chanyeol whined, popping an unsalted almond into his mouth. 

“Yeah, yeah! And, Kai was clearly fresh out of the shower and Chanyeol was ready to make him breakfast! And Kai said he wanted to have sex with Chanyeol! Can you imagine our Chanyeollie? Having an _affair_! Junmyeon totally deserves it!” Baekhyun claps his hands totally engrossed in his own version of a soap opera including his best friend. 

Chanyeol grips the sides of his temple, trying to remain calm. Being friends with Baekhyun for so long, has given him enough time to practice the art of patience and snubbing. But Chanyeol was close to choking Baekhyun. “Kyungsoo what’s your view on someone who uses their emergency key for a non-emergency because they have—“

“I was asking him to review one of my videos before I posted it!” Baekhyun cut him off sharply, glancing at Chanyeol’s smug face. Touché. 

Kyungsoo takes a seat on the couch, biting into a oat cookie.“Why? Your content is good.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes widen at the new information. “You watch my videos?!” 

Kyungsoo nods. “Sometimes. When I’m on my break, they’re amusing.” 

A grin spreads on Baekhyun’s lips, and within seconds Baekhyun has disappeared from his spot, tackling Kyungsoo into a bear hug landing on top of him. Chanyeol and Jongdae exchange knowing glances at the soft blush soaring up Baekhyun’s neck to the tip of his ears. Kyungsoo pushes Baekhyun’s face away, trying to sit back up chuckling at Baekhyun’s puppy-like tendencies. 

“So, Kai…” Kyungsoo trails off. He will never admit it but Kyungsoo loves a good scandal, it makes things interesting in his considerably mundane every day if he had to compare lifestyles with his other three best friends. 

“What about Kai? You guys are acting like a bunch of weirdos just because I actually have other friends than you three.” Chanyeol complained, throwing his head back groaning. 

“To be fair, you’ve only had us as consistent friends for so long that now you can’t get rid of us even if you wanted to. We’re like fungus we keep coming back.” Baekhyun interjects casually, sipping his beer. 

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo scrunch up their noses at the comparison. 

“Yeah, let’s not talk about Kai.” Jongdae blurred out, his nerves frying at the mere thought of Sehun’s intimidating face and how easily he could kill Jongdae with his left thumb solely if he needed to. 

Baekhyun almost snaps his neck to look at Jongdae, his brows furrowed. He tries to signal Jongdae with his eyes but that clearly doesn’t work because Jongdae simply gives him the middle finger. “What is with you Jongdae? Are you tipsy already?”

“My legs are on the line, that’s what!” Jongdae shrieked outraged. 

Baekhyun doesn’t know what is going on with his partner-in-crime. After their failed stake out and intel gathering, Jongdae has declared that he is no longer speaking to Baekhyun, and all of the lunches Baekhyun owed him are to be delivered to his office instead of eating out with Baekhyun. Sooner or later Jongdae is going to crack, and Baekhyun will unravel another mystery. 

“Anyway,” Baekhyun side-eyes Jongdae then refocuses his attention to Chanyeol. “Is he a friend? Or a friend-that-I-like-to-fuck.” 

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae and Kyungsoo simultaneously shout.

“What?! It’s a reasonable question, no?” 

“He is a friend!” Chanyeol repeated for the nth time. “I’m not a child.” 

“We know you’re not a child, it’s just you’re the type of person that will talk about everything that happens to you, from getting blacked out drunk on a Tuesday afternoon, all the way to faking your way into a restaurant reservation. So, having a new friend should fall between those two ranges, y’know?” Kyungsoo explains with a shrug. 

“How did you even get to know him properly?” Baekhyun interrogated, not giving Chanyeol a chance to answer Baekhyun gasps at his eureka. “Was it on your birthday night? Did he ask for your number? Or money? Or both? Did he seduce you with his flexible body and smouldering eyes? Or was it his big dick? I don’t remember much from your birthday but his bulge is something I won’t forget anytime soon. Personally, I’d let him rail me.”

Chanyeol’s reddens at the lewd comments, turning his face away trying to stay collected. He clears his throat for good measure, still avoiding eye contact. “Why are you all so curious about him? I think I’m old enough to pick people without your approval.” 

“You picked a shitty boyfriend.” Baekhyun and Jongdae mutter together, surprised that they matched. 

“Yeol, what’s the worst that could happen in us meeting your new friend? It’d be nice, don’t you think?” Kyungsoo said, reaching for another cookie. He hasn’t seen Chanyeol look so full of life until a few weeks back and if Kai is the reason more so than Junmyeon, who should be responsible for that aspect, then Kyungsoo needed to see this Kai. 

Chanyeol doesn’t blame them, Kai’s presence demanded to be seen, his aura was strong he was so alluring, an enigma. But then again, Kai was unpredictable, and Chanyeol wasn’t sure if he wanted Kai and his friends to be in the same room. The dynamics far too different, a risk Chanyeol wasn’t particularly happy about taking. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you guys to meet,” Chanyeol admitted. 

Baekhyun’s mischievous smirk is back. “Why? Are you embarrassed from us?” 

“Best decision you’ve made all night Yeollie.” Jongdae approvals and claps, glad to still have his kneecaps intact. 

Jongdae’s victory doesn’t last long, because Baekhyun launches a cushion to his head knocking off his butt and onto his back. 

“Hey! Who’s side are you on?” Baekhyun yelled. 

Jongdae groans dramatically, holding the side of his head.“The side of peace and non-violence!” 

Baekhyun gets up from his place and jumps on Jongdae, landing on his lap and the pair start to play fight. “I’ll show you non-violence!” 

“Help! Chanyeol I’ve been defending you and you’re not gonna help a comrade?” Jongdae calls out, struggling to get out of a headlock. 

Chanyeol laughs at the sight and shakes his head feigning ignorance. “Sorry, wartime changes people!” 

“Kyungsoo, get your boyfriend off me!” 

“Not my boyfriend,” Kyungsoo answered with an air of nonchalantness, munching on some cubed cheese. 

Chanyeol watched his friends and he can’t help but smile at the thought of Kai saying something peculiar in regards to their silly antics.

(—————) 

Sehun, Kai and Yixing were currently standing outside the double doors of a private suit. The people on the other side of the door, were all businessmen that needed to let off steam one way or another. The trio hated private parties because they were messy and rarely go according to plan but because it paid really good money, they never decline. Like tonight. 

Their supervisor for the night, who deals with all of the technicalities and safety procedures is Choi Yunho. He was a familiar face in the club, one of the managers that does the night shift. He wasn’t particularly horrible nor nice, just focused on having maximum profit and minimum revenue damage. Sehun didn’t like him, but then again he doesn’t like anybody in the club apart from a selected few. 

“You guys know the drill, I do the talking. Anything they haven’t paid for but want you to do, tell me.” Yunho declares, pressing the doorbell of the private suit. 

Kai lets out a soft snort, catching Sehun rolls his eyes at Yunho’s speech. 

Kai is practically vibrating from excitement, that Sehun has to hold onto his arm to keep him still. Private parties with middle-aged men always have top quality drugs, and Kai could not wait to go wild tonight. He hasn’t touched any type of drugs since his dinner with Chanyeol, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. He’d be dumb not to, after all the craving is growing more and more, widening the holes in Kai’s heart. The emptiness is returning in a faster rate, and he needed to close them before completely spiralling into a bottomless black hole. 

“Ah, welcome.” Kai snaps his neck up at the new voice and grins. “Boys! Entertainment has arrived.” 

Yunho guides them into the suit and Sehun grabs Kai to stop him from wandering off instantly. 

“The boys need to change and set up,” Yunho explains his tone flat, scanning the area to count how many men are scattered around the spacious living room. A dozen or so, and he has to hold back a small smirk knowing they’ll bring in plenty of extra cash. 

The same man who opened the door for them and seems to be the so-called leader of the group, gestures to one of the side doors in the far end of the room. “Yes, yes! They can set up in the spare bedroom.” 

“Come on.” Yixing signals to the other two dancers, already walking ahead to the room. 

“Yixing, 10 minutes max!” Yunho orders, counting the cash payment. 

Yixing has been in the sex industry for far longer than Sehun and Kai have. He is the veteran back at the club, and always looks out of the youngsters, but when confronted of his caring actions, he denies his doings. He always says the same things, of him not being anybody’s mentor or guardian. Everybody knew what they were getting into when they began stripping, thus he won’t coddle anybody but he won’t pray for their fall either. Yet, Yixing will guide and protect when it deems a necessity to him. 

“Yunho will probably be in the corner or in another room preoccupied, so if shit gets out of hand tell me, okay?” Yixing said, tossing his duffle bag on the bed and starts taking off his clothes revealing the glittery ensemble underneath. 

“Tell Kai that,” Sehun complained glaring at Kai who simply sticks the middle finger out to him. “Did you see the spread on that table? It’s like a candy store for him.” 

“I forgot how much of an exaggerator you are, Sehunnie.” Kai laughed with slight strain. 

Sehun looks away, agitated. Ever since he had talked with Jongdae he’s been more protective to Kai, anxious that he might be mixed with the wrong people who want to just take advantage of him. Or see Kai like some sort of fetish and not a human. It is a very common sight in the strip-club with men confessing their love, and need to take care of the dancers because they see them as a fantasy. Kai’s relationship with the painkillers is getting worse, he’s advanced to crave only the top graded drugs and Sehun cannot let Kai become addicted. He won’t. 

“Yixing! Are you hearing this? Can you for once back me up on this? Please?” Sehun huffed, only getting a shrug from the veteran dancer in return. 

“Fuck off, Sehunnie!” Kai sang trying to keep his composure light, putting on his sheer crop top that barely reaches his bellybutton. 

Sehun frowned, the drugs on the table were a worrying sight by the ample amount. That alone was a red flag, and Sehun hopes that Yunho won’t let the men have their way with them. But, money makes people do crazy things. 

Kai’s smile slips in an instant when Sehun turns his back to both of them, and starts to change as well. He didn’t realize Sehun would be this upset, it's not like it’s the first time that drugs and alcohol being present in a private party were off-limits. He nudges Sehun with his hip trying to be playful, but the latter ignores him. Kai doesn’t like it. No. No. No. 

“I can behave! I won’t drink!” Kai said eager to please, he doesn’t like it when Sehun is upset with him. 

Sehun scoffs, re-applying his gloss from earlier. “I’m more worried about you being fucking high than drunk.” 

Kai’s expression hardens at the words, turning his back on Sehun as well. “Nobody fucking asked you to be worried, did they?” 

“Well someone has to be fucking worried!” Sehun snaps, poking Kai’s back with his lipgloss causing him to turn around with a thunderous gaze. 

“I don’t need a stupid babysitter to—“

“Cut it out the both of you!” 

Yixing steps in between the pair, pushing them away from one another. He knew Kai was definitely going to get his hands on any drug he can digest or inhale, one way or another. The red-head has been buzzing with excitement in the car on their way over, and Yixing has to remind himself it’s not his business to tell Kai what to do, after all, he’s a grown man. He can’t keep saving every person who is in need of help. Especially a person who doesn’t want it. 

“Just please, for the love of God don’t do more than your body can handle. If you blackout, Yunho will give all of us shit, and cut our pay in half.” 

“Aye, aye captain!” Kai said mockingly. 

Kai glances at Sehun, and he can see the rigidness in Sehun’s entire body. Kai knew that Sehun gets nervous at the private parties because all of the rules and regulations that are placed in the club become useless once the money is being traded under the table. Regardless if it’s consensual or not, that didn’t matter. And Kai isn’t good at comforting people, but with Sehun he does the only thing that has proven to be effective in lessening the other’s nerves. 

He tugs Sehun close to him, their bodies touching and Kai reaches upwards ignoring Sehun’s angry expression and kisses him. Kai runs his hand through Sehun’s hair, neck and shoulders smiling into the kiss as he feels the tension in Sehun’s muscles weaken. Kai pulls away first with a breathy laugh, satisfied he could relax Sehun. 

“You’ll be fine.” Kai whispers, pecking Sehun again. 

Sehun’s cheeks are tinted red, but he won’t be distracted. He looks away with a prominent scowl. “I need you to be fine.” 

“I promise I won’t take anything.” Kai huffs, finally giving in. 

Sehun raises his pinky and Kai seals their pinky promise by intertwining his own finger. 

“I’ll lead,” Yixing interjected, his hand on the door handle ready to leave the makeshift changing room. 

Kai rushes after Yixing, ready to play his role. “Let's get this money, bitches.” 

Sehun sighs inaudibly, he doesn’t like using Kai’s weaknesses to his advantage in letting the red-head do whatever Sehun asked. But this was the only way to ensure that Kai won’t completely lose control. Small specks of guilt start to swarm in Sehun’s heart, so he takes a step towards Kai and kisses his shoulder. 

“Thank you…” Sehun mumbled. 

The door is open, and they can hear the mixture of music and cheering of the gentlemen waiting for their show to start. Yixing heads out first, but Kai doesn’t follow him immediately. Instead, he turns around and pulls Sehun into a panicked kiss, but this one was for his own selfish needs. If he can’t take drugs, he’ll take what he can get. Even if it was in the form of Sehun’s body. Kai kissed desperately craving comfort of some kind of buzz that will keep his head from drowning. 

Kai breaks off the kiss abruptly creating a thin string of saliva. Kai brushes his thumb against Sehun’s lips pleased he’s made them swollen slightly. 

“I-I needed that,” Kai uttered, rushing out of the room without waiting for Sehun. He’d rather not dwell on using Sehun’s love for his satisfaction. 

(—————)  
“I heard it’s a real tear-jerker y’know.” Junmyeon chatted with a smile. 

Chanyeol widens his eyes and hums. “We all need a good catharsis every now and then.” 

Junmyeon and Chanyeol were currently standing in line side by side, waiting for their turn in cinema to pay for their tickets. Junmyeon had called Chanyeol the day after cancelling on him and stated that he will make it up to Chanyeol by taking initiative of their next date. Since, Chanyeol was the one in the relationship to always organize their dates and whatnots beforehand, always taking extra consideration for Junmyeon’s job and his workaholic nature. So when Chanyeol heard that the date is a two-in-one combo of watching a movie and eating dinner afterwards it made him happy. 

They inch forward finally their turn to pick and pay for their movie. Chanyeol lets Junmyeon do all the talking because Junmyeon liked to do things in a specific manner and he’d rather not disturb the peaceful flow between them. He pulls out his phone ready to text Jongdae if he’s seen the movie, knowing how much of a movie fanatic his friend is. However, his thumb pauses from clicking on Jongdae’s contact, instead, he goes down a few contacts and clicks on Kai’s. 

Kai hasn’t been replying to his texts for the last three days, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t worried. What was concerning was that they finished their dinner that night on a good note, even walked Kai all the way to his apartment door. But Chanyeol hasn’t been able to get in touch with the dancer or see him. He didn’t realize how quickly accustomed he was to have Kai around when they’d share a meal or a bus ride home. Kai became a solid part of Chanyeol’s day-to-day routine and now it’s weird for Kai to not be there. For the past two nights, Chanyeol has been purposely working overtime, in hopes of running into Kai at the bus stop but that never happened. To Chanyeol, he still feels a little awkward to call, unsure of where their friendship stood. They dined together frequently, every other night to be precise and shared a little chip of truth about themselves, that only stayed between them. But it’s been a rarity for them to hang out when the sun is still out, or even do regular activities people in their 20’s do. 

“Wanna share a bag of popcorn?” Junmyeon asked pointing to the wide range of snacks behind the clerk, effectively snapping Chanyeol out of his trance. 

“Yeah sure, can I get the caramel popcorn please?” Chanyeol flashed a polite smile to the clerk. 

Junmyeon blenched. “Caramel?” 

“Uh yeah. Why?” 

“I don’t even like caramel popcorn,” Junmyeon said in a matter-of-fact manner. 

Chanyeol bites the inside of his cheek. He was the one that got asked not the other way round, and most certainly he has no issue in getting more than one popcorn bag. “We can get the half and half….”

Junmyeon raises his brows unimpressed, and Chanyeol feels small at the sharp gaze directed at him. And not in a good way. “Seriously? So everything gets sticky and mixed up? No thanks. You’ve got to think sometimes, babe.” 

“Actually I’m not really craving popcorn anymore,” Chanyeol muttered, his earlier enthusiasm over their date fizzing out.

“Could you be even more indecisive, Chanyeol? We’ll just get a regular salted popcorn in a size small. Wouldn’t want to fill up our stomachs before dinner now would we?” Junmyeon gestures to the clerk for the decided flavour who rushes to prepare the snack.

“No, of course not.” Chanyeol shakes his head obediently, while Junmyeon goes ahead and pays. Chanyeol doesn’t understand why Junmyeon needs to always be right and needs to have his way. Every time. _Every time._

Chanyeol glances back at his phone screen hesitant to text Kai, he keeps floating in Chanyeol’s mind. He’d hate to assume the worst, but Chanyeol doesn’t want Kai to end up being hurt or in danger, as flashbacks of Kai’s breakdown in the middle of the street high off his rockets yelling and screaming. He rereads all of the strings of unanswered texts he’s been sending, and Kai being unresponsive is giving him anxiety. 

[7:05PM] Chanyeol: _hello! are you free right now? We can get food, my treat! ξξ(∵◕◡◕∵)ξξ_  
[7:08PM] Chanyeol: _*spongebob dancing gif*_

[5:22PM] Chanyeol: _hey are you busy?? ʕಠಿᴥಠʔ Wanna get food? I can cook if you don’t wanna eat from outside ◕‿↼_

[9:15PM] Chanyeol: _it looks like you’re working hard, I didn’t see you by the bus-stop again._  
[9:16PM] Chanyeol: _┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘_

[1:31PM] Chanyeol: _I saw this new Mexican restaurant open with good reviews, wanna try it? (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞_

[2:34PM] Chanyeol: _guess what! I’m working overtime again! I wouldn’t be surprised if we bumped into each other on the bus ride home LMFAO_

[1:02AM] Chanyeol: _heyyy! \ (•◡•) / you haven’t been replying. Sorry for bothering you, but are you good?_  
[1:03AM] Chanyeol: _we can talk if something is bothering you. I’m always free._

[7:13PM] Chanyeol: _I guess work keeps you busy, same haha! ( >^o^)><(^o^<) I’m even working overtime again, can you imagine? Lol _  
[8:06PM] Chanyeol: _*spongebob waving gif*_

“Come on Chanyeol, could you act like you’re a little interested in our date that I worked hard for, instead of texting whoever?” Junmyeon scolds handing Chanyeol the salted popcorn as they head off towards the main screenings. 

[6:12PM] Chanyeol: _hey, are you okay? I just noticed you haven’t been replying for the past few days, I’m missing my dinner buddy. (ಥ﹏ಥ)_  
[6:12PM] Chanyeol: _Please tell me if you’re okay (இ﹏இ`｡)_

“Huh, yeah sorry.” Chanyeol apologized hurriedly, tucking his phone into his pocket and Junmyeon holds his wrist causing them to stop. 

“Wait, is it Baekhyun?” 

Chanyeol pretends to not feel his stomach tightening, as if some rock has dropped in. He swallows and looks away, shaking his head. “A colleague at work..”

Junmyeon’s sparkling eyes vanish in an instant, and he drops Chanyeol’s wrist. “Oh. We’ll come on then, the movie is about to start. I paid extra for the best seats.” 

“Yeah..” 

(—————)

It’s been a week, and Kai is still unresponsive to Chanyeol’s messages and the office worker needed to find out if Kai is ok, and not murdered. He swore he won’t go back into the strip club, it was an already scarring experience so his next best option is to go to Kai’s home. It was Sunday morning, and Chanyeol couldn’t be more grateful because he can do his undercover snooping without a time limit. 

“Just going on a walk with no destination in mind…” Chanyeol sang under his breath, tugging on his hood over his messy bedhead. “No destination at all, enjoying the weather.” 

Yet, Chanyeol’s walk just happens to be coincidently in the direction of Kai’s street. He hasn’t planned ahead that far on what to do when he reaches Kai’s street because he doesn’t know what he’ll do if Kai isn’t outside. He can press the doorbell repeatedly until Kai leaves his place and bump into him accidentally. Or he could stay outside like some stalker waiting for Kai to pop out of thin air to check for his safety. No, Chanyeol dismisses. He doesn’t think he’d last that long alone in Kai’s part of the neighbourhood. 

“Hey, I was just passing by, a short cut! No-no, that’s shit.” Chanyeol self-reflected scratching the side of his face, thinking of other speeches to layout if he ends up finding Kai. “Oh! Hey! What a coincidence that we’re both here at the same time, totally—fuck.” 

Chanyeol’s phone rings, frightening him out of his pitiful monologue acting. He hastily answers the call without checking the ID caller. 

“Park Chanyeol!” Baekhyun’s loud voice booms into the speaker and Chanyeol winces wishing he did actually check the ID caller. 

“What do you want Baek? It’s too early and I’m kinda busy right now.” 

“That is no way to talk to someone so dear to your—wait, wait, wait. Busy?” Baekhyun forever the quick-witted, shoots off his inquires. “Why are you busy so early in the morning? You don’t even leave the house till noon on a Saturday.”

Chanyeol bites the inside of his cheek, he already is suspicious and Baekhyun isn’t even here to see him in his physical form. Embarrassed, Chanyeol discreetly tugs off his sunglasses that he’s worn for disguise, and clears his throat after taking a quick scan to his surroundings cautious of being spotted. He’s getting closer to Kai’s residence, just a few minutes give or take. 

“I ran out of milk, is that a crime now?” Chanyeol huffed, trying to act as naturally as possible. 

“But you stopped drinking regular milk because of your stupid boyfriend a couple months back.” Baekhyun retorted quickly, sniping down the lie. 

Chanyeol’s eyes widen, and he curses inwardly for being so hasty. He knew he should’ve had coffee first before leaving, but he was worried he’d miss Kai’s departure from his apartment or arrival. He doesn’t know the dancer’s work schedule that well. 

“Are you the milk police?”  
“No, don’t be—“

“Exactly! So what if-if I was craving normal milk instead of Junmyeon’s alternatives like almond milk? Is that so bad of me?” Chanyeol said with zealous despair in hopes that he’ll fool Baekhyun. 

“What the hell are you—“  
“Baekhyun I can’t stand it! I need cow milk, it’s not the same!” 

Chanyeol smirked victorious at confusing Baekhyun, it was the one tactic he knew that would quieten Baekhyun down. Run circles around him so fast, he can’t fathom or keep up. 

“You’re one weird motherfucker, Park.” 

Chanyeol entered Kai’s street, quickening his pace in the direction of Kai’s building complex. His nerves dancing under his skin in excitement at the thought of finally seeing and talking to Kai. 

“And you’re even weirder for calling me so early in the morning!” Chanyeol scoffed, taking little offence at the insult but with twisted pride that he’s tricked Baekhyun and deterred Baekhyun off-topic. “Don’t you have some else to bother? Like Kyungsoo?” 

“I was going to ask you if you’re free today to help me film, you palm-tree!” 

“I—“ Chanyeol forgets to breathe at the sight before him.

There Kai stood across the street, dressed in a simple sweater and shorts far too light for the freezing weather. He wasn’t alone, there was a man he was conversing with. Baekhyun’s voice is a distant noise as Chanyeol stares at the two men standing near the bushes by the metal fence in the vacant street. Kai extends his hand in a subtle manner to the mystery man, and Chanyeol’s eyes widen at the realization that Kai is giving him a big roll of cash. 

“—Chanyeol! Are you ignoring me you fucking—“ Chanyeol hangs up on Baekhyun, staring ahead in shock. 

The man’s smile is alarming as he counted the money while Kai bounces on the back of his heels fidgeting. When the man pulls out of his back pocket a small, transparent plastic bag with white pills, Chanyeol loses all sense of the world. He sprints across the street desperate and panicked, slapping the bag out of the man’s hand startling the pair of his sudden arrival. 

“What the hell are you doing?!” Chanyeol demanded, glaring heatedly at the man.

The man stumbles back by Chanyeol’s intimidatingly big physique, his eyes shifting from Kai to Chanyeol terrified. 

“What the fuck?” Kai blurs out, staring at Chanyeol dumbfounded. 

Kai isn’t sure if this is a hallucination of his or not. But he doesn’t care at the moment, Chanyeol is ruining his deal. Desperate, Kai turns to the drug dealer with a shaky open palm waiting for his treats. He paid him. Kai can barely stand upright, his muscles and bones seemed as if they’re rubbing and twisting against one another, and he needed the pain to stop. 

Chanyeol steps up to the dealer his orbs blazing with fire, standing in front of Kai in a form of protection. “Piss off right now! I better not see your face here again!” 

“Give me the fucking pills I paid for!” Kai snaps, manoeuvring around Chanyeol’s body but the dealer shakes his head picking up the dropped bag from earlier stuffing it into his pocket hastily. “Hey! Get back!”

Kai manages to grab onto the drug dealer’s forearm, but Chanyeol grabs Kai’s wrist preventing him from any further movement. The dealer shakes Kai’s weak grip and scurries off in a panic looking around if he’s brought unwanted attention to himself. As soon as the dealer is out of their sight, Chanyeol releases Kai from his grasp finally the danger passed. He turns to Kai ready to scold the younger but Kai didn’t look too good; he looked sick. 

“Why are you here?! You ruined my deal!” Kai hissed shoving Chanyeol, but the latter barely budged. 

“I came to visit you because I was worried something might have happened to you, and then I see you trying to buy drugs out in the open! What if you got caught? Why are you even buying drugs?!” Chanyeol reprimanded, vexed by Kai’s careless behaviour. “How could you be so thoughtless!” 

“Who do you think you are meddling into my personal business!” Kai shouted, not caring if anybody overhears them or sees them. He just lost his deal and his money, and he doesn’t know what to do. That was the only dealer that Kai could afford his price. Kai’s brain is in scatters, he doesn’t know what to do or where to go now. He needed his drugs now, he can already feel himself losing touch with reality and the aches and cramps in his muscles are getting tighter. It’s all too much. He should’ve of ignored Sehun when he promised him to not touch any of that delicious spread of opium by at the private party. He’s run out of everything, and now he’s running out of his mind. 

“I lost fucking $400 and didn’t get my pills! Who’s going to compensate me, huh? I don’t have any fucking money now!” 

Chanyeol didn’t realize how intense Kai is going to be. Everything happened so quickly, that it was over before it even begins and Chanyeol doesn’t even remember running across the street to stop the public dealing. He just saw Kai in possible risk and needed to intervene. It was as if his brain went into a fight or flight mode. And now the adrenaline is coming down, and Chanyeol realizes he might over overstepped his mark.

“Give me $400! I worked hard for it! You don’t know what I went through to get it on such short notice!” Kai screamed at the top of his lungs, hitting his own chest. His eyes are unfocused and Kai is losing all control of his senses. He needed something to stop the spiralling, he’ll get swallowed up. _No, no, no._

“Kai! I’m sorry, I really am but you need to calm down.” Chanyeol’s earlier frustration has boiled down to worry, flashbacks of Kai being high crashing into Chanyeol’s vision unwelcomed. “Kai! Kai! Please calm down!” 

“This is all your fault! I need them, don’t you fucking get it?” Kai snarled like a wild animal, yanking at his hair for a moment before taking two steps back away from Chanyeol as Chanyeol takes two steps forward. He needs to get away, but Chanyeol’s big hands land on his shoulders in an act of settling him down yet Kai assumes the worst, and slaps Chanyeol with all his might.

And just like that time freezes over. Kai stood there his hand still mid-air in shock at his own action, staring at Chanyeol holding onto his assaulted cheek.

“J-Just fuck off!” Kai said defensively, storming off. He didn’t mean to hit Chanyeol. But he wasn’t going to yield either. 

(—————)

It was the next morning and Chanyeol couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. Not after what happened. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s never been put in such a predicament such as the one he’s in now with Kai. Hell, he’s never been in a physical fight in his life, let alone get slapped across the face. His friends weren’t wrong when they said it was surprising he had found a new friend. He wasn’t one to break out of his routines easily, not that he was given the opportunity to either, he’d grown too comfortable and accustomed to his living. That now anything out of his routine is affecting him greatly. Like Kai. As soon as Kai made a prominent mark in Chanyeol’s life and disappeared for a week straight, Chanyeol became restless needing to find the reasons for the sudden fracture. Kai entered Chanyeol’s life in a quick, seamless and unexpected manner. 

Chanyeol tied his shoelaces and straightened his tie, ready to go to work. He needed to focus but Kai is filling up every thought, and he prays that it won’t distract him from his job. 

“What am I doing?” Chanyeol thought out loud, going down the building complex’s staircase. 

Kai was right, it’s not his business to meddle. But Chanyeol….doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if it’s not his business, Kai is obviously in trouble and Chanyeol wants to help him. Chanyeol lets out a scoff of disbelief at the notion, when did he become more like Baekhyun nosy and prying in other people’s affairs. 

Chanyeol pushes open the building doors and closes his eyes momentarily at the strong cold air. He needed to focus, he can’t keep thinking of Kai. 

“Kai?” Chanyeol blurs out when he opens his eyes. 

There stood outside of building was Kai. He looked cold and grumpy, a cigarette in his mouth and his backpack on the floor, focused on kicking the dirt beside the pavement tree in front of the building. At the call of his name, Kai snaps his head up wide-eyed and afraid. He tosses his cigarette on the floor, stomping on it carelessly before running up to Chanyeol wrapping his arms around the office worker’s waist into a tight hug, burying his face into Chanyeol’s chest.

Chanyeol doesn’t move, too taken back by the sudden affectionate gesture. He holds his arms up on either side of him resembling a starfish out of the water, as Kai tightens his hug, not caring that Chanyeol isn’t hugging him back.

“I’m sorry!” Kai pleaded, looking up at Chanyeol with evident dark rims under his eyes. 

And just like that, relief washes over Chanyeol. Kai is safe and hasn’t done something reckless. The tension from yesterday seeps out of Chanyeol’s shoulders in an instant, as he gently nudges Kai off him creating a small distance between them but not before patting Kai’s head as reassurance.

“I told you I have a boyfriend.” Chanyeol sounded like a broken record at this point, explaining the distance between them. 

“Did I hit you hard?” Kai asked, twisting his fingers apprehensively, on edge trying to analyze Chanyeol’s cheek from his standpoint.

Chanyeol shakes his head, unable to hold back a small smile. He is just really glad Kai is in front of him and didn’t avoid him. _He’s safe._

“Not really..” Chanyeol muttered looking away trying to play it off cool and indifferent, but his cheek was a little swollen anybody with half a brain could see that. 

Kai frowns and closes the distance between them once more, and kisses Chanyeol’s cheek in apology. He can’t have Chanyeol mad at him, no, he likes Chanyeol too much to lose him. After he ran away and locked himself up in his shoebox of a home, he trashed his entire place. He had been beyond furious that Chanyeol dared to intervene into his personal business, his Chanyeol. Kai didn’t want to show Chanyeol this disgusting side of him, that’s why he’d been avoiding him. Kai was busy bouncing from one cock to another for some extra cash at the club so he could buy some oxycodone to keep his mind under control. He hasn’t touched any drugs for a week straight, it was driving him insane, and alcohol doesn’t have the same powerful kick like a high does. 

After trashing his place, Kai went out on a drug-crazed escapade. One of the men at the private party slipped his business card into Kai’s boxers and Kai didn’t tell a soul, he didn’t dare to. He promised Sehun he’d stop going over to random people just for the possibility of a whiff of narcotics or a sip of alcohol. He called the businessman, Mr.Kwon, and the man was delighted. Kai was picked up near the subway station of the neighbourhood, and the pair went back to Mr.Kwon’s home. Kai was so desperate he did everything Mr.Kwon wanted, _everything._ Just for a few lines of cocaine, and Kai was floating in world of fantasy and delusion. He was recharged, his mind and body content for now. 

“Why are you kissing me?!” Chanyeol gasped, holding onto his cheek. 

“I’m trying to apologize!” Kai huffed in annoyance, his browed furrowed together. Sehun doesn’t mind it, when he does it to him. 

“I’d rather not have your type of apologies then!” 

“You don’t even know what my apologies can turn into,” Kai smirks, pressing himself against Chanyeol once more only to be pulled away like a bothersome kitten. 

Chanyeol can’t hide the wonder in his eyes, nor the redness of his ears. He has to physically shake his head to stop the lewd thoughts. It’s 8 in the morning, Chanyeol groaned he can’t be this heedless. He marches off with Kai on his tail. 

“I got up extra early to walk you to your office before my shift, to say sorry!” But Kai lied, he hadn’t even slept yet. 

Chanyeol doesn’t reply. He’s glad that Kai seemed to be stable and calm enough to converse with, but he was still in his feelings about what happened yesterday. He was too reckless with his abrupt actions, and Kai was an unexpected force to be reckoned with. He wants to help, but now he’s stuck. Chanyeol for once doesn’t have a routine to follow or a plan to execute. He’s annoyed that Kai is being a danger to himself, but he’s more annoyed that he isn’t being useful. 

Chanyeol quickens his pace, glancing back and Kai is still matching his speed. 

“I don’t like it when you’re mad! Tell me what I can do to make it better!” Kai snapped, yanking Chanyeol’s arm forcing him to stop walking. He hates being ignored. 

Chanyeol spins around, taking a deep breath. “I’m not mad.” 

“Yes you are! You are!” Kai insisted, shaking Chanyeol’s arm. There it was again, a crack of that child-like mentality that Chanyeol saw when Kai slept over. “You look mad!”

“I’m not mad, I’m disappointed okay?” Chanyeol gives in, his shoulders slump. “I was taking a walk and then I saw you coincidentally, totally coincidentally and flashbacks of that night came to me when you broke down….” 

Chanyeol looks away, but the horrible images were vivid and he raises his head with red-tinted cheeks and determined eyes.”I just d-didn’t want to see you in that state again!” 

Kai’s mask slips, gaping at Chanyeol with fear clouding his features. 

“I lost control that night.” _Liar_  
“I’m not dependent on oxycodone.” _Liar_  
“I have a lot of back and hip pain from dancing when I was younger and now it’s worse. That’s why I take them.” _Liar_  
“I can’t go to the hospital because it’s expensive, more than the street dealers offer.” _Liar. Liar. Liar._

 **LIAR.** _You’re worried they’ll find out you like it too much._

“So, I’m sorry for scaring you and hitting you.” Kai finalized, schooling his expression well enough to look neutral and not attract attention. 

Chanyeol sighs, throwing his head back for a moment to gather his thoughts. He doesn’t know what to believe, or better yet how much to believe. He’ll need to keep Kai close in order to find out more, and help Kai. He faces Kai and gives him a nod. “I’m sorry too.” 

And just like some miracle switch, Kai’s entire mood is shifted. A grin spreads on his lips as he latches onto Chanyeol’s arm. 

“We use the same bus, just different times. Isn’t that funny?” Kai said a little forcefully, he needed to change the topic as quickly as possible. He can’t have Chanyeol connect the dots. 

Chanyeol has given up on shaking Kai off of him at this point and lets out a small smile and an airy chuckle. “I suppose that is rather funny that we—THE BUS!” 

Chanyeol checks his watch and curses, he’s running late and he can’t get another late warning. He grabs Kai’s hand and starts running. “I can’t be late! My boss will skin me alive!” 

They barely make it on time, as Chanyeol pays for both his and Kai’s tickets squeezing into the already crowded bus. School students, office workers and other morning commuters filled the bus. Chanyeol pushes through the tightly confined bodies, grabbing onto the bus handle facing the window, with Kai standing in front of him essentially caged in by Chanyeol.

Kai looks up at Chanyeol a little out of breath. “I don’t remember the last time I had run like that, reminds me of school.” 

Chanyeol laughs and agrees looking around at the few students littered across the bus. He glances down at Kai, noticing Kai staring at his own hand intently. 

“Oh, did I grab you too hard? I’m sorry!” 

“Nope!” Kai flashes a cheeky smile at him. Chanyeol held his hand, and tightly too.

Chanyeol spots Junmyeon’s company building and points at it as Kai glances confused. “That’s where Junmyeon works at, their building looks cooler, doesn’t it? With the architecture.” 

Upon understanding who, Kai rolls his eyes and turns back to face Chanyeol with a scrunched nose. “How boring. Let me guess, you guys met at some stupid convention because both your companies wanted to collaborate and both of you worked on the project together?” 

Chanyeol laughs lightheartedly, and Kai is surprised by the reaction. He was expecting Chanyeol to scold him, as usual whenever his boyfriend is mentioned. 

“What?” 

“Nothing of that sort, we met at a mutual friend’s party and kind of hit it off,” Chanyeol assures, amusement dancing in his eyes. “But some K-Drama office drama sounds way more interesting.” 

Kai doesn’t reply, brewing in hot jealousy. He wants to be the one Chanyeol thinks about and mentions. He wants Chanyeol to kiss him and talk about him to others with pride and affection. He scoffs to himself at the mere thought of Junmyeon, he will end him. He’ll make Chanyeol his no matter what, if he can’t, nobody else can have Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol sighs in content, causing Kai to look up at him confused but Chanyeol’s expression is pleasant as he stares out of the window. 

“This makes me remember back when Baekhyun and I would run to the bus stop every morning late because Baekhyun would walk this girl he had a crush on to her bus-stop while I’d be a third wheel.” Chanyeol chuckled fondly the childhood memories he cherishes so much. “God, he thought he had game back then. She rejected him because she had a boyfriend, and Baekhyun was depressed for like a week before going out with her sister for revenge. That didn’t end well either.” 

Kai hums, recollecting his own school days. He purposely blocks a lot of his childhood memories out, because there was only so few that were deemed good. He didn’t have friends, after all, he was labelled as the school slut. All because he was making out with someone’s boyfriend who lied to him about being single. Kai didn’t care. He didn’t care about the nasty looks, bitchy comments or even the few fights. He knew they were jealous of his beauty, that was the one thing nobody could take away from him. 

“I was a little popular in the dating scene back in school as well.” Kai didn’t know why he needed to justify and big up himself. He just wanted Chanyeol to know that he, too was approachable and wanted. _am I?_

“Really? I remember you saying something about having milk thrown at you because of it, right?” Chanyeol chatted, not noticing Kai’s one hundred-yard-stare. 

_Popular having sex with anybody that told him to. They all said he was asking for it anyway, so why not do it._ “Yeah.” 

The bus stops abruptly, and Chanyeol reaches out grabbing hold of Kai’s waist so the dancer doesn’t fall over. Chanyeol takes a quick look at the bus’s LED sign that was illuminating their bus-stop name. “This is us, come on.” 

The pair shuffle through the moving crowd, finally exiting the tuna box from hell inhaling the fresh air. Kai tucks his hands into his pockets, pretending to look around in interest before focusing his gaze on Chanyeol. “Who knew sleeping till noon was boring? I would be up every day if riding a crowded bus would be this much fun.” 

Chanyeol nudges Kai at his teasing. “Trust me routine is no better. It’s boring.” 

“There’s no boring routine when you love what you do,” Kai argued softly. He’d do anything to have a normal, boring routine. He would never take it for granted. That stability. 

“I don’t really hate my office job, even when half of the time I’m doing something that isn’t part of the job description and I know I’m only starting out. And I complain a lot. But,” Chanyeol looks in the direction of his company building with a proud smile. “I like it. I know I’ll move up in the world, regardless if it’s with this company or another. Thanks for reminding me.” 

Chanyeol ruffles Kai’s hair, not noticing the strong blush on the letters cheeks appearing. “And thank you for making my morning nice. Have a good day!” 

Kai went poker-faced, even with the rosy blush betraying his true emotions. He watches Chanyeol cross the road, jogging to his workplace taking a piece of Kai’s heart with him. 

As soon as Chanyeol enters the building, Kai looks down at the floor unable to hold back the bright smile any longer. 

“I made his morning nice.” Kai whispered to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, I wanted to show how everybody's day-to-day lives include just so everybody can get a sense of the world. I wanted to unravel Sehun's personality more in this chapter, and how much of a strong influence he is on Kai - to an extent. Did you notice the parallel of Kai apologizing and his thought process between Sehun in Ch.7 and Chanyeol here? A lot of you were wondering what happened between Jongdae and Sehun, so I wrote that scene just for you guys ◕‿↼ 
> 
> I'm sorry, I'm an angsty hoe. 
> 
> Next chapter is going to be fluffy as fuck. I can't wait to write it. 
> 
> ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
> 
> If you ever wanna chat or are too shy to comment on here this is my twitter is:@GlazedDounut72
> 
> ~ ♡ All I ask in return for writing is commenting. That's it ♡ ~
> 
> I'm not asking for a full book report (although that would be MARVELOUS) I'm just asking to be paid with your thoughts, opinions, and feedback.
> 
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.  
> 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.


End file.
